


Spacemon: Frontier

by DisturbedShadow



Series: Spacemon - A Pokemon Tabletop Story [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Space, Artificial Intelligence, Bounty Hunters, Character Death, Cybernetics, Dark, Death, Exploration, F/M, Female Protagonist, Foreshadowing, Gen, Gritty, Laboratories, Major Original Character(s), Male Protagonist, Mercenaries, Military, Minor Character Death, Original Universe, Outer Space, POV Female Character, POV Male Character, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Past Tense, Plot Twists, Pokeball(s), Pokemon - Freeform, Pokemon Battle, Pokemon Death, Pokemon Fanfiction, Pokemon Gym, Role-Playing Game, Science, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Space Battles, Space Exploration, Space Flight, Space Opera, Space Pirates, Space Stations, Spaceships, Tabletop RPG, Team, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Teamwork, space travel, tabletop role-playing game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2018-10-24 09:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 102,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10738494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisturbedShadow/pseuds/DisturbedShadow
Summary: Spacemon: Frontier is a preqeul/spinoff to Spacemon, a sci-fi space epic based on a Pokemon tabletop RPG campaign played using the Pokemon Tabletop United system. Frontier follows the events of a new campaign set 40 years prior to the original, featuring a new GM and a new set of players. Join the crew of the UAS Maverick as they travel the Outer Rim — the frontier of the Galaxy — alongside their Pokemon, trying to make a living and survive against pirates, gangsters, and other criminal elements.





	1. The Discovery

“You sure you want to go in there, boss?”

“Of course I want to go in there,” Captain Cyrus Drake of the _UAS Maverick_ said as he turned back to look at Axel Zuikaku, his hired muscle. The captain’s mouth formed into a cocky grin as he spoke. “And you’re coming with me. In fact, I’ll even let you go first.”

“How thoughtful of you,” the Alliance mercenary grumbled. He hefted up his flamethrower and took a step through the entrance to the ruins that the _Maverick_ crew was gathered around.

“Don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya,” Cyrus chuckled as he followed Axel into the dimly lit passageway.

“Yeah, whatever you say, boss.”

The crew proceeded further into the ruin, passing through columns of light flittering down through the holes in the ceiling.

“Hopefully we find something this time,” Erik Virtanen, the _Maverick_ ’s engineer, commented as they continued.

“I’m sure we’ll discover something that benefits us all,” the monk, Taraka Bhaluka, replied.

“And what makes you so sure of that, pal?” Cyrus asked.

“Just a gut feeling,” Taraka answered.

Cyrus still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Sinai monk. They had picked him up only a few days ago on Paso. He was actually the reason they had come this far out on the Rim. Taraka was on his pilgrimage, a rite of passage for Sinai monks that Cyrus only had a vague understanding of, and his journey had pointed him to this uncharted world. Unfortunately the monk had depleted his funds and wasn’t able to find passage. Cyrus had taken pity on the man, and worked out a special arrangement. In exchange for transport for the duration of his pilgrimage, Taraka had offered to work for the captain, providing both extra labour and his healing skills. Credits were a bit sparse at the moment, so it was a beneficial arrangement for both parties.

And so, the _Maverick_ crew now found themselves exploring an ancient ruin in the far reaches of Sector 34. Taraka believed a clue that would help unlock the purpose of his pilgrimage lay within, and for the others it was another routine salvage operation. Cyrus and company were no strangers to exploring old ruins, searching for valuable technology and useful scraps.

As they continued deeper into the ruin, the outside light grew dimmer due to the structure being much more intact. However, it was still bright enough to see thanks to rune-like inscriptions glowing along the ancient metal walls. To Cyrus, it almost felt like the runes were guiding them down the corridor.

“You would think anything this old wouldn’t be functional anymore,” Erik said.

“Maybe there’s some kind of ancient power source?” Cyrus suggested. “Could be worth a lot of money.”

“I like the sound of that,” Axel said, picking up his pace a little.

Eventually, the corridor came to an end, opening up into a large, open room. Cyrus stepped through the doorway first, with the rest of his crew following behind. The captain glanced around the room; it appeared to be some sort of workshop. “This looks promising,” he said to the others. “Split up and see what you can find.”

As his crew fanned out, Cyrus began poking around a scrap pile sitting atop a large slab. The contents appeared to be broken and corroded robotic parts. Cyrus pulled an arm out of the pile and gave it a quick once over. It was surprisingly light compared to anything he had seen before.

“Hey, Erik, what do you make of this?” the captain called his engineer over.

The Genevan man walked over and grabbed the robotic limb Cyrus was holding out to him. “This craftsmanship is remarkable!” he exclaimed after giving it brief examination. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“So this stuff could be worth a lot of money?” Cyrus asked.

“Definitely. But I’d advise against simply selling it. If I can replicate these designs it could be worth so much more. We should bring as much back to the _Maverick_ as we can.”

Over the next several minutes, the crew gathered up all the robotic parts in the room and loaded them into the two large antigrav-repulsor-mounted salvage crates they brought from the ship. As they were finishing up, Cyrus noticed a strange expression appear on Taraka’s face.

“Everything alright there?” the captain asked the monk.

“I thought I heard something.”

“It was probably just the wind blowing in through the holes back in the corridor,” Axel dismissed him.

“It came from over there,” Taraka responded, pointing to a doorway on the opposite side of the room from where they entered, mostly blocked by a large metal wall panel that had fallen out of place. “And it definitely didn’t sound like wind.”

“Axel, come and give me a hand with this,” Cyrus said, approaching the panel.

“Oh, alright,” the mercenary replied unenthusiastically.

Together, the two men pushed the panel aside revealing a dark passageway.

“See, nothing.” Axel said. “I told you, it was probably just the— _Oh, shit!_ ”

Suddenly, a large swarm of Zubats came flying out of the darkness, several of them crashing right into Cyrus and Axel. Thinking quickly, Cyrus reached for a Pokeball and released his Talonflame.

“Peregrine, Flame Charge!” the captain commanded his Pokemon. The swift bird surrounded itself in flames as it flew at the swarming Zubats. Spooked, the cluster of Pokemon fled out of the room, down the corridor the crew had entered from. Cyrus’s Pokemon let out a fierce cry, then flew back to his trainer and perched upon his shoulder.

“Everyone alright?” Cyrus asked, turning his attention to his crew.

“I think so,” Erik replied. “It’ll take more then a few measly Zubats to hurt us.”

“That’s true,” Axel agreed. “But let’s try to avoid waking up any more wild Pokemon while we’re here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cyrus agreed. “Now, let’s see where this passageway leads.” He took a step into the corridor the Zubats had emerged from, and his crew fell in line behind him.

After several minutes of walking, the crew arrived in another room, or at least half of one; a large cave-in prevented them from advancing any further.

“Well, this was a waste of time,” Axel grumbled.

“Hold on a minute,” Taraka responded. “I sense something here. Something feels …” The monk trailed off as his eyes slowly glazed over.

“You alright there, Taraka?” Cyrus asked.

The monk didn’t answer. He simply stood there, motionless. Several moments passed, and Cyrus was beginning to get concerned, but, suddenly, Taraka looked around at everyone, a normal expression having returned to his face.

“What the hell was that about?” Axel asked.

“It was a vision,” Taraka explained.

Cyrus stroked his facial scruff. “I’ve heard about the psionic visions of the Sinai monks, but I’ve never witnessed anyone having one first hand.”

A slight smile formed on Taraka’s lips. “Well, now you have.”

Cyrus couldn’t help but chuckle. “I suppose I have.” The captain was beginning to like this monk. “Mind if I ask what you saw?”

“There’s something else here,” Taraka told him. “Something hidden.”

“Is it what you came here to find?”

“I’m not sure. But there’s something …” Taraka began running his hand along the wall, as if he was searching for something. “Aha!” The monk pressed his hand against the wall, depressing a small panel. In response, the wall panel slid away, revealing another room.

Erik let out a booming laugh. “There’s no way we would have found that!”

“Well, let’s see what’s inside, shall we?” Cyrus stepped into the room, and took a look around.

In the middle of the room sat what appeared to be some sort of pod, its metal frame broken in several places. Despite the holes, it was impossible to determine if anything was contained within in the dim light. Remnants of wires and cables lay across the floor, some still connected to the pod.

“What is it?” Axel asked.

“Let’s find out.” Cyrus pulled out his pistol and activated the flashlight attached to it. He shined the light on the pod to get a better look. “There’s something in there. C’mon, give me a hand here.”

Cyrus and Axel gripped one of the panels on the pod using the holes in its surface and slowly pried it off. Inside the pod stood an artificial humanoid figure. It was badly damaged and missing several components, but it was still clear what it was.

“ _Incredible_ ,” Erik gasped. “I’ve never seen such incredible robotics in my life. We must bring this back to my workshop so I can thoroughly examine it.”

Cyrus patted his engineer on the shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me twice. Boys, this might be our biggest find yet.”

* * *

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here,” Erik said to no one in particular.

Back in his workshop aboard the _Maverick_ , the Genevan engineer looked down at the robotic construct lying on the table. Despite its badly damaged state, Erik was in awe of its design. It was far beyond any current Human technology. _What I would give to know more about the civilization that created this_ , he thought as he moved in closer to examine the crew’s find.

The construct was missing a leg and both arms, and had a hole in the torso, but it was clearly humanoid in shape. It’s body was made out of an unknown metal, one that appeared to be strong and durable, but was also surprisingly light. The construct’s head was somewhat ornate, designed to look like some sort of ceremonial helmet. The faceplate was adorned with an intricate series of overlaid metalwork, forming a visor, and a plume of feather-like protrusions attached at the base of the neck. Another series of larger wing-like protrusions were attached at the back, just above the waist. _They look sort of like coattails_ , Erik mused. The one leg that remained had an elaborate knee joint that appeared to be motorized. _Impressive_.

Turning his attention back to the head, Erik noted that it appeared to be made of multiple plates that could be separated. Grabbing the back of the head, just above where the “feathers” were attached, Erik pulled up and away. He was met with resistance at first, but then he felt something release and the entire metal plate came off, revealing what he could only assume was the construct’s “brain:” a network of interlaced circuitry encircling crystal with hard, angular edges, glowing with a pale cyan light.

Erik couldn’t help but gasp. “Incredible,” he said aloud. It was the single most advanced piece of circuitry he had ever seen in his life.

After several moments passed, during which Erik stared in awe, he took a step back from the table and looked the construct over. He knew what he needed to do. “Alright, my friend,” the Genevan engineer said. “Let’s get you fixed up.”

* * *

A faint reddish-purple glow filled Erik’s workshop as the _Maverick_ flew through warp space to its next destination. The Genevan man sat leaned back in his chair, stroking his large mustache as he looked at the ancient robotic construct lying on his table. Over the past week or so, Erik had been working diligently to repair it. Using the many parts recovered from the ruin, he had put it back together. He had replaced the damaged chestplate and shoulder joints, and had attached a second leg and a pair of arms, which he had wired in to the best of his ability. Of course, there was no way to know if he had been successful until he could power it up. In order to do that, however, he first needed to figure out _how_ ; there did not appear to be any obvious way of providing power to the unit.

Erik let out a sigh, then stood up. It was time to get back to work. He approached his work table and looked the ancient robot over once more. “How do you work, my friend?” the engineer asked aloud. There was no obvious port or anything of the sort on the exterior, which led Erik to believe that it was designed to function for a long time without needing to charge. It also meant that the power source would be a _bit_ harder to identify.

“Let’s see here.” Erik removed the chest plate and took a look at the construct’s inner workings. There were several large components in the chest cavity, and many, many smaller ones. The unit’s power source had been pretty easy to identify; the pinkish-green crystal in the center of the chest cavity couldn’t be anything else _but_ a power source. The problem was figuring out how to get it to resume actually providing power to the unit.

 _This is a waste of time_ , he thought after several minutes. Erik had spent a lot of time examining these components, but he was still no closer to figuring out what most of them did. The design was too advanced, too _different_. Erik slammed his fist down on the table in frustration; he was growing impatient.

That was when a thought occurred to the Genevan engineer. _Drastic, but it could work_ , he thought. Erik reached for his Pokeball and released his Pachirisu onto the table. The small blue Pokemon let out a squeak as it emerged, and discharged a tiny burst of electricity from its cheeks.

“Alright, Patch, I need you to give this thing a good jolt of electricity,” Erik told his Pokemon, pointing at the construct’s exposed chest cavity.

The Pachirisu nodded, then hopped up onto the ancient robot. The Pokemon let out a loud squeal as it unleashed a powerful bolt of lighting directly into the chest cavity. The sparks began to travel along the construct’s entire form, then several sections of the body lit up, glowing a bright cyan. _It’s working_.

Patch stopped discharging electricity and looked at the construct curiously. Suddenly, the robot’s fists clenched, causing the Pokemon to hop back in surprise. Then, the eyes flickered to life. Erik watched in awe as the construct slowly sat up and turned to look at him.

Then it spoke in a surprisingly natural-sounding voice.

“Who … are you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are. The beginning of the write up of the Spacemon spinoff campaign GMed by me instead of the original Spacemon GM! How exciting! Just a little background, I got the itch to GM again, and some people from a campaign I was in that Spacemon's GM GMed while Spacemon was on one of its breaks were itching to play again, so this campaign came to be. I also wanted to put more focus on storytelling than worldbuilding, so Spacemon's GM gave his blessing for me to GM a Spacemon spinoff. This campaign is set 40 years before the start of the original campaign and is mostly set in the Outer Rim, on the frontier of space. In this era of the Spacemon universe, this region of Space is still being explored and charted and there is still much to be discovered.
> 
> This first chapter isn’t from a campaign session, but it’s something I wrote as a prologue of sorts to introduce some of the characters and set the tone for this series. I can’t take all the credit for this chapter though, the opening scene is adapted from a writing piece that one of my players wrote for a writing class, taking inspiration from the campaign. I changed a lot of details to fit the narrative I had established for the campaign and the rules of the Spacemon universe, but the narrative flow is more or less the same.
> 
> So, let’s take a look at who we’ve introduced in this chapter. First, we have 2 major NPCs from the campaign, Cyrus Drake and Erik Virtanen. Unlike original Spacemon, where the PCs didn’t even start with a ship, let alone one with NPC crewmates, I felt it easier to start all the PCs together on a ship with an established crew so I didn’t need to worry about getting the party together. I also added some NPC crewmates to fulfill certain roles. Captain Cyrus Drake is a means by which I could provide the party with quests and information, and he served as a great character to be the perspective character for the first scene. I definitely took a lot of inspiration from Mal Reynolds from Firefly for his character. Then Erik Virtanen served to provide crafting services to the party. Then we have a couple PCs introduced here: Axel Zuikaku and Taraka Bhaluka. Axel is a mercenary with a penchant for fire, and Taraka is a Sinai monk on his pilgrimage. Of course, there is still more of the cast to be revealed, so stay tuned.


	2. The Mix-Up

Captain Cyrus Drake watched out the front viewport as the _UAS Maverick_ flew past the large gas giants on the outer reaches of the Maravilla system in Sector 32. As the ship passed passed into the system’s habitable zone, the planet Paso came into view.

“We’re almost there, Captain.”

Cyrus turned to look at the young Romanov woman seated beside him, lightly teasing the ship’s controls as she brought it onto an approach vector with the planet. “Very good, Anya. Hail the station and let ‘em know we’ve got a delivery for ‘em.”

“You got it.” Anya reached for the comms and opened up a channel. “ _UAS Maverick_ to Paso Orbital Station, requesting permission to dock.”

“We read you, _Maverick_ ,” came the reply from the station. “Please state your business.”

“Routine supply delivery to the colony.”

“One second … Aha. Right on schedule, I see. Please proceed to docking tube nine.”

As Anya brought the ship in, Cyrus activated the ship-wide comms. “Alright boys, get that cargo ready to unload; we’ll be docking momentarily.” The captain then stood up and headed to the cargo bay.

Stepping into the large open space at the back of the ship, Cyrus was greeted by the sight of his crew moving crates, preparing them to offload on the station. Axel and Taraka were moving one of the larger crates … and then there was Ace. The robotic being was doing just fine moving a fully loaded large crate all by himself.

It had been about a month since the _Maverick_ crew had uncovered that ancient construct in Sector 34. Cyrus was surprised how quickly Erik had been able to repair it, and even more surprised that he was able to activate it at all. The most surprising thing, however, was that it appeared to house a fully functional AI. It could have been worth a lot of money, but Erik had insisted that they keep their discovery secret. Erik insisted that Ace, as he had taken to calling the ancient bot, was a sentient being and selling it — or him, rather — would be inhumane. Erik did have a point; Ace would surely wind up in the hands of scientists who would want to study him. As one of the captain’s oldest friends, Erik had his trust, and he had agreed to his wishes.

Ace, for his part, still remained an enigma. It seemed that his memory core was too badly damaged and he had no memory of who he was or how he was created. Since he didn’t have anywhere else to go, Cyrus had offered him a place as part of the _Maverick_ ’s crew, and he had eagerly accepted. Over the past several weeks, Ace had proved to be a hard worker, and Cyrus was glad for that fact.

“How we doing, boys?” Cyrus asked his crew.

“Things are proceeding smoothly, Captain,” Ace answered, turning to face Cyrus.

“Excellent. Keep up the good work and we’ll be swimming in credits in no time.”

“Don’t get our hopes up, boss,” Axel chimed in. “We’re barely making enough to cover fuel costs right now.”

“You are _such_ a pessimist,” Cyrus teased the mercenary.

“Just being realistic is all.”

“Well, here’s some reality for you, my friends. We’re still surviving, aren’t we? And we _are_ making more credits than we’re spending … _finally_.”

Axel let out a hearty laugh. “Can’t argue with that, boss.”

Cyrus cracked a grin. “Great, now let’s get moving. The sooner we offload these crates, the sooner we get paid.”

* * *

“Don’t you think this is taking a bit too long?” Axel asked impatiently. They had been waiting for what seemed like an unusually long time, and the mercenary was eager to get his money.

“Oh, relax,” the captain told him. “Large deliveries usually take a long time to process.”

“But not _this_ long,” Axel replied.

“Well, there’s no use in complaining about it.”

“Yeah, whatever …” Axel folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “They better get their asses moving,” he added under his breath. This was getting ridiculous.

Finally, after what seemed like an absurd amount of time, Axel noticed two Federation soldiers approaching. “Well, it’s about time,” the mercenary said, walking up to the two men. “I was beginning to think you forgot about us.”

“Sorry, sir, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to come with us,” one of the soldiers said.

“What for?” Axel asked apprehensively.

“Is there a problem?” Cyrus asked, approaching the three men.

“Damn right, there’s a problem,” the other soldier said. “You’re all under arrest for the transport and attempted sale of spice.

“Excuse me?” Axel asked. He looked over at Cyrus, who appeared just as confused as he felt.

“There must be some mistake,” the captain said. “We were delivering food and supplies, not drugs.”

“A likely excuse,” one of the soldiers dismissed him. He then extended a hand toward Axel. “Now, you need to come with us.”

“Like hell we do!” Axel shouted, slapping the man’s hand away. “We didn’t do nothin!’”

The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion as the soldiers drew their weapons. Axel jumped backwards and threw out a Pokeball, releasing his charmander, then dove behind a crate to avoid incoming fire.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Pokemon. The Charmander spat out a jet of flames at the soldiers, but they dove out the way.

One of the soldiers sprang back to his feet, then dove at Axel, tackling him to the ground. Thinking quickly, Axel pushed the soldier off of him, then rolled over on top of him pinning him to the ground. He then looked up to see the others moving in to engage the other soldier, who had released a Loudred. Taraka threw up a reflective psionic barrier around himself and the rest of the crew, while Ace released his Ralts.

“Blade, Disarming Voice,” Ace ordered his Pokemon. The Ralts approached the other soldier and emitted a high-pitched wail as he unleashed a burst of energy.

“Loudred, Bite!” the soldier shouted in response. His Pokemon charged at Ace. The Loudred’s teeth closed around Ace’s arm, but were repelled by the psionic barrier.

Feeling the Federation soldier struggling beneath him, Axel pulled him into a headlock. “Ritsu, Ember again!” He commanded his Pokemon. As the Charmander spit out another lick of flame, Axel pushed the soldier away, forcing him into the fire while shielding himself. The mercenary immediately followed up with a fireball from his flamethrower. The shot hit the soldier directly in the back, erupting in an explosion of fire.

“I request that you be more careful,” Ace said as the flames grazed him.

“Sorry, pal,” Axel said as he got to his feet. “Didn’t mean to getcha with that one.”

Before the mercenary got the chance to take stock of the situation, the remaining soldier opened fire on him, landing a laser shot right on his shoulder. Axel let out a guttural grunt as his shoulder erupted in pain.

“Axel!” Ace shouted as he rushed over to the injured mercenary.

“Don’t worry about me,” Axel told his robotic crewmate. “I’ll be alright.”

Ace nodded, then turned to face the remaining soldier. “Blade, Confusion,” he commanded his Pokemon, before bending down to grab the rifle out of the hands of the unconscious soldier by his feet. He then took cover by a nearby crate while his Ralts had the soldier suppressed.

Taraka then threw up another psionic barrier around the crew and their Pokemon before releasing his own. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind on that Loudred!” the monk commanded his Togetic as she emerged from her ball.

“Loudred, Bite!” the soldier commanded in response to this new threat as his Pokemon was blasted with a powerful gust of air. The Loudred leapt at the Togetic, but its teeth were once again repelled by Taraka’s psionic barrier.

“Axel get back, you’re hurt!” Axel suddenly heard Cyrus shout. He turned to see his captain opening fire with his pistol to keep him covered.

Axel nodded and began making his way toward cover. “Ritsu, use Flame Burst!” he commanded his Charmander. The orange fire lizard spit out a jet of flame to cover her trainer, taking down the Loudred in the process. Axel cracked a grin as he neared the crate Ace was hiding behind, but it didn’t last very long. Just before he could duck into cover, the Federation soldier landed another shot. Fortunately, Taraka’s psionic barrier helped mitigate the damage. That didn’t mean it still didn’t hurt like hell, however. The mercenary let out a grunt of pain as he slumped against the crate, safely out of the line of fire.

“Are you alright?” Ace asked.

Axel turned to look at his robotic crewmate. “I’ll live,” he grunted. “Just take that son of a bitch out.”

“Right.” Ace peered over the crate, then began lining up a shot with his newly acquired rifle. “Blade, Confusion!” he then shouted. Axel poked his head out to see Ace’s Ralts blast the soldier with a powerful blast of psychic energy, knocking him off his feet. Ace then immediately followed up with a well-placed shot.

“Ritsu, finish him off!” Axel shouted. “Use Ember!” His Charmander obliged and unleashed another rush of flame, taking the soldier out. Axel breathed out a sigh of relief. It was done.

“I strongly recommend we get off this station before more show up,” Ace said.

“Agreed,” the captain said. “We can figure out what the hell just happened once we get out of here. Let’s just hope they didn’t lock our ship down.” He walked over and, with Ace’s help, pulled Axel to his feet.

The crew rushed back to the _Maverick_ and quickly boarded the ship. “Anya, get us out of here!” Cyrus yelled into the comms as soon as they were aboard.

“Where to?” came the pilot’s reply.

“Anywhere! Just go, now!”

Axel breathed a sigh of relief as the _Maverick_ detached from the station without any trouble. He was glad to have gotten away … but there was still one problem. The mercenary turned to look at Cyrus and half-jokingly asked his question.

“I don’t suppose there’s any chance of us getting paid for this one, is there, boss?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, we’ve arrived at the first session recording, and already we have mishaps! So, uh, I totally forgot to record right at the start of the session, so the first 30-45 minutes were missing. Luckily, I was able to piece together the beginning of the encounter from the rest of the recording, and I was already planning on adding stuff to the beginning of the chapter, so it still came together nicely. I think the main reason I forgot is that, unlike the original Spacemon campaign, this one wasn’t played in person. It was played online over Roll20. Additionally, I was using a new method of recording since it wasn’t an in person game. I was lazy though and didn’t take the time to iron out some issues with OBS, so these first few recordings are audio only. Later on, I was able to start recording the Roll20 screen as well, which will certainly help with adding more detail to chapters.
> 
> We’ve got a bit of a time gap from the previous chapter since I felt like it made everything flow better to reveal some details via characters thinking and remembering things instead of directly showing them to readers. This chapter formally introduces us to Ace, the third PC rounding out the party. While he was the focus of the first chapter, he had only one line, but now he’s part of the crew! We also get to meet the last member of the NPC crew, Anya Chan, the Maverick’s pilot. I felt like it was a good idea to give the players a pilot for the ship right from the get go instead of having one of them fly it like we had to do for the start of the original campaign.
> 
> Getting into the meat of the chapter, this covers the first hour of what I actually recorded, so probably about half the session if you factor in the beginning of the session that didn’t get recorded. I’m still trying to learn how to GM better, so it was great to finally be GMing a campaign that neither the original Spacemon GM or Shane's player were players in since they are my primary sources of GMing advice. The original Spacemon GM suggested this opening plot hook and I felt like it was a good way to start things off and send the party on the run! What actually happened? Well, the next chapter will shed some light on that.


	3. Scorching Scuffle on Scoria!

It was quiet aboard the _UAS Maverick_ as the ship flew through warp space. Cyrus sat in the co-pilot’s seat in the cockpit as he had been for the past few hours, trying to figure out what had just happened. _How could there possibly be spice in the shipment?_ he wondered. The captain went over the possibilities in his head. He knew his employer was trustworthy, and the _Maverick_ had regularly been making supply runs to Paso for months now without incident, so the problem wasn’t there. _The crew, perhaps?_ It seemed unlikely, but Cyrus still considered the possibilities.

 _Erik?_ The _Maverick_ ’s engineer was an old friend of the captain. The two had known each other for years, and long before Cyrus had acquired the ship. He was the last person Cyrus would expect to turn to smuggling, especially not without bringing him in on the deal, even though he would certainly decline. _Definitely not him_.

 _Anya?_ She had only been flying the ship for a couple of years and never gave Cyrus a reason to suspect her of anything nefarious. She kept to herself for the most part and could be a bit abrasive at times, but that was about it. Anya had escaped from a bleak future under the thumb of a notorious Romanov gangster, so the captain was sure she wouldn’t want to get involved with anything even remotely related to that life. _Couldn’t be her._

 _Taraka?_ A Sinai monk would be a very unlikely suspect for spice smuggling. It would be a fantastic cover, but no real Sinai monk would get involved in that sort of thing. Cyrus knew Taraka was the real deal; he had seen his psionic capabilities first-hand. _It would be quite the story, but I honestly doubt it was him_.

 _Ace?_ Ace hadn’t even been active for a month yet, not to mention the fact that he had no memories of his past or knowledge of the criminal underworld. Ace was less likely to be a smuggler than Taraka. _He’s the least likely on this ship to have been the culprit_.

 _Axel?_ Of all the members of the _Maverick_ ’s crew, the captain’s hot-headed hired muscle was the most likely to get involved with something like this, but that didn’t mean much. Spice smuggling wasn’t Axel’s style, and Cyrus wasn’t sure he was clever enough. It would explain how it got discovered, though. Even then, the captain didn’t suspect him either. _He may be kind of an asshole, but he’s dependable and honest_.

Having decided that none of his crew were to blame, Cyrus could come to only one conclusion. _The Federation must have fucked up, mixed our cargo with someone else’s or something_. It was the only possible explanation. Now the captain needed to figure out how to get out of this mess.

That would have to wait. The _Maverick_ dropped out of warp space on the edge of a star system, pulling Cyrus out of his thoughts. “Where are we?” he asked, turning to face Anya.

“The Yermo system,” the pilot informed him. “It was the first uninhabited system in the sector I found on the nav chart.”

“Good thinking. Now, let’s see if we can find a planet to hide on.”

“Hmm, how about this one?” Anya asked, pointing to a planet on the nav chart. “Scoria. It’s volcanic, but the atmosphere’s breathable. The ash clouds should interfere with any scanners trying to pick us up.”

“Sounds good to me. Take her down.”

* * *

Axel stretched out his arm as he stepped out of the _Maverick_ ’s med bay, then flexed his shoulder muscles. “Just like new,” he said as he rubbed the wound he received on Paso’s orbital station. It still stung a bit, but the healing gel he had applied to it was already well on its way to healing it fully. It was a good thing too, because the mercenary was eager to explore the planet the ship had just landed on. Judging by the view out the viewport, this world appeared to be volcanic, and that meant fire Pokemon.

Axel had been working for Cyrus for about a year, and he had yet to find Pokemon that he wanted to capture, but all that was about to change. He was sure of it. It almost made the sting of not getting paid for the last job fade from his mind.

“What’s the story, boss?” Axel asked as he stepped into the ship’s main living quarters to find the captain and the rest of the crew.

“Well, I think I figured out what happened,” Cyrus answered. “At least partially. It would seem the Federation got our cargo mixed up with someone else’s.”

“Any idea who?”

“Not yet, but I’m going to find out. I’ll reach out to some contacts and see what I can do. Until then, we’ll be laying low on this planet.”

“If that’s the case, then I want to check this planet out and see if there are any Pokemon around.”

“Be my guest.” The captain then turned to the others. “Same goes for the rest of you. We may be here a while, so feel free to go out exploring.”

“Count me out,” Anya said. “I don’t do volcanos.”

“I shall accompany you,” Taraka said. “I too would like to find some Pokemon.”

“I will join you as well,” Ace said. “I’ve never been on a volcanic planet before.”

“Alright then,” Axel told his two crewmates. “Let’s go see what we can find out there.”

* * *

After about an hour of hiking across the volcanic wasteland of Scoria, the three members of the _Maverick_ crew had yet to find any life signs, Pokemon or otherwise. Taraka was beginning to think there were no Pokemon on the planet at all and that this was all a big waste of time. The monk had to admit it felt good to get out and stretch his legs, but the occasional clumps of volcanic ash blowing into his face were starting to irritate his eyes and nasal passageways.

“Perhaps we should turn back,” Taraka suggested to his crewmates.

“We’re not returning to that ship until I find me some fire Pokemon,” Axel responded.

Taraka knew he should have expected that answer. He had known the mercenary long enough. He simply shrugged and continued to follow Axel.

Soon, the terrain began to change. The dried lava flats the trio had been crossing gave way to rolling hills. As they ascended into the foothills of the mountains, Taraka began to notice traces of plant life. Eventually, they crested a large hill and were greeted with the sight of a huge open valley that was surprisingly full of trees and had signs of Pokemon activity.

“Now, ain’t that a sight, boys?” Axel said, placing his hands on Taraka and Ace’s shoulders.

“Indeed,” Taraka agreed.

The valley was quite beautiful, despite the burnt trees decorating its fringes. Geothermal vents nestled between the large trees spewed out clouds of steam that rose into the air through the boughs of muted green-grey leaves coated in a light dusting from the volcanic ash that fell from the billowing clouds like snowflakes. It seemed so out of place on such a harsh planet, yet here it was.

“There’s bound to be Pokemon down there,” Axel said as he took the first step onto the slope.

Taraka followed the mercenary as he lead the trio into the valley. Several minutes later, they were down amongst the trees. They pressed on and were soon in a large clearing in the middle of the geothermal forest.

“Seems like a good spot to find some Pokemon,” Axel said.

Taraka nodded. It seemed like a good spot, indeed. Reaching out with his senses, the monk was able to catch glimpses of recent activity in the clearing. There were, in fact, Pokemon passing through quite frequently.

“I am detecting movement,” Ace suddenly spoke up.

As if on cue, a pair of Ponytas stepped out from the treeline, emerging to graze. Then, a Vulpix appeared from the opposite end of the clearing.

“That one’s mine,” Axel announced, pointing at the Vulpix.

“I will go for one of those Ponyta’s then,” Taraka replied.

“Hold on, there’s something else coming,” Ace said.

There was a loud rustling in the brush, then a Houndour lept out into the clearing with two Growlithes in pursuit. Seeing the trio of Humans in the clearing, the Houndour abruptly changed direction, but that allowed one of the Growlithes the chance to nip at its leg. The Houndour immediately turned and sank its sharp teeth into the Growlithe’s neck, dealing a nasty blow.

The other Growlithe jumped at the Houndour’s back and, with its jaws aflame, took a bite out of the other canine Pokemon. This freed its companion, allowing it the chance to strike as well. The Growlithes and the Houndour continued to trade blows until, eventually, the Growlithes came out on top, although one of them looked pretty hurt. Taraka watched Axel seize upon the opportunity and toss a Pokeball at the injured Growlithe, catching it instantly.

The mercenary seemed to have everything in hand, so Taraka turned his attention back to the two Ponytas. He released his Togetic as he cautiously approached them. Ace followed close behind, releasing his Ralts. The Ponytas stopped grazing and watched the pair and their Pokemon cautiously as they approached.

“Blade, Confusion,” Ace commanded his Pokemon, directing it at one of the two Ponytas.

As the Ralts unleashed his psychic blast, Taraka commanded his own Pokemon to target the other Ponyta. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind.”

Their combined attack didn’t seem to do much to the two fire horse Pokemon other than anger them. The Ponyta’s charged at their aggressors at a surprisingly quick pace. Sirius rapidly flapped her wings, flying up above the Ponytas, but Ace’s Pokemon was not as lucky and was trampled. Taraka and Ace ordered their Pokemon to attack again, and then Ace followed up with a volley of laser fire from his rifle, likely worrying for his Ralts’s safety.

“Guys, a little help here!” Taraka suddenly heard Axel shout. The monk looked over to see his crewmate being aggressively chased by the other Growlithe. His Charmander let out a rush of smoke at the Growlithe, temporarily blinding it and allowing Axel to slip away.

“Looks like you’ve got everything under control there!” Taraka jokingly shouted back.

“Very funny!”

“We’re a little occupied at the moment!” Ace pitched in as the Ponytas spit fire at both of their Pokemon.

“Fine! I’ll do this myself!” As Axel shot a blast from his flamethrower at the Growlithe, Taraka turned his attention back to the Ponytas.

“Blade, use Confusion, then retreat,” Ace ordered. His Ralts shot off another pulse of psychic energy, slowly backing away at the same time. Ace then attempted to throw a Pokeball at the Ponyta, but the Pokemon dodged out of the way. It let out an angry whinney as it moved in, ready to attack again.

As Ace and his Pokemon moved back, Taraka rushed forward to Sirius’s aid. The Togetic had taken quite the hit from the Ponyta’s last attack. The monk slammed the Ponyta with his fist, driving it back from his Pokemon. “Sirius, use Yawn!” he then commanded. His Togetic yawned, releasing a wave of hypnotic energy at the Ponyta. The fire horse Pokemon began to stumble in turn as it grew drowsy. It managed to keep itself awake long enough to tackle Taraka to the ground before succumbing to sleep.

As Taraka picked himself back up, he saw Axel throw a Pokeball at the remaining Growlithe, successfully capturing it. _My turn for a capture_ , the monk thought as he pulled out a ball of his own. He threw it at the sleeping Ponyta, but it failed to hold it for long. _At least it’s still asleep_ , he thought. He then turned his attention to his own Pokemon. Sirius was pretty badly burned, so he decided to recall her.

The monk then glanced over to see that Ace was just as unsuccessful with his own capture attempt on the other Ponyta. The fire horse Pokemon spit a jet of flame out at the android in response, but he dove out of the way. “Catching Pokemon is harder than I thought it would be,” Taraka’s robotic crewmate commented as he got back on his feet. “Let’s try this again.” Ace ran up to the Ponyta and thrust another Pokeball at it, this time capturing it.

“Nice work,” Taraka commended his crewmate. “Hopefully I will be just as lucky.” The monk pulled out a second Pokeball, then tossed it at the sleeping Ponyta. It pulled the Pokemon inside, then fell into the ash-covered grass. It shook once … twice … three times … then it was caught! Taraka smiled as he walked over to collect his prize.

With the Ponytas dealt with, Taraka turned his attention back to Axel, whose Charmander was now trading attacks with the Vulpix. The fox Pokemon spit a burst of flames at the fire lizard, but she dodged out of the way. “Now, use Dragon Rage!” Axel commanded. The Charmander unleashed a jet of fire that burned with a purplish glow, dealing a nasty blow to the Vulpix. Then, Axel tossed a great ball, successfully capturing the Pokemon

“Well, I’d say this was a pretty successful trip,” the mercenary said he collected his newly captured Vulpix, a grin appearing on his face. His clothes were a bit scorched, and he looked a little worse for wear, but he seemed to be in high spirits. Taraka had to admit that he admired the man’s enthusiasm.

“Indeed it was,” the monk agreed with his crewmate. “But I think we had best return to the ship. I would like to tend to my Togetic’s injuries.

“Sounds like a plan,” Axel agreed, recalling his Charmander.

Taraka turned back in the direction of the _Maverick_ ’s landing site and began to the trek back up and out of the valley, his two crewmates in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus we have finished the first session’s worth of material! The session actually went over time a bit, so we had to cut it off mid-encounter since some of the players had other things they needed to do. Since I stockpiled a bunch of session recordings before I ever started writing this series instead of writing each session’s chapters in the week between sessions like I did for the original campaign, it was no big deal to just tack on a bit from the second session at the end of the chapter to wrap up the scene.
> 
> The first scene for this chapter was one I added in just to make everything flow better, and it was also a way for me to give a bit more background on the characters, particularly some of the NPCs whose backstories didn’t get much mention during the campaign until much later on. Especially in these early chapters, using Cyrus as the perspective character makes sense for setting up the narrative since we’re still at the point in the campaign where the players were getting a feel for the setting, the story, and their characters.
> 
> The planet itself was kind of inconsequential, but it did provide some fun opportunity for lighthearted early game Pokemon catching. Axel's player wanted to go to a volcanic planet since he loves fire type Pokemon and is running the Fire Ace class, so I told him if he rolled well on a d100 the planet they hid out on would be volcanic since I hadn’t yet implemented my planet generator. He rolled well. It was just a generic volcano planet at the time, but I decided to spice it up a bit for the write up, adding the geothermal valley and such. It made for a much more interesting location for sure.
> 
> As for the battle, I threw a bunch of Pokemon at them since it was the first session and they each only had one Pokemon to start, and Ace's player rolled a nat 20 when we were determining who got to roll the d100 to determine what Pokemon showed up. I played around with different writing methods for battles since I’m trying to write each scene from a particular character’s perspective like I started doing with Blueshift and some of the non-session pieces for the original storyline. Since Axel's player sort of went and did his own thing during the battle, I showed bits and pieces of what he was doing since it was from Taraka’s point of view and he was preoccupied with the Ponyta. It helped on cutting down some of the extra stuff from the battle and keep the chapter at a decent length.
> 
> That’s another thing I’m trying to do with Frontier: make the chapters more concise, focusing on grouping scenes together into chapters in the most logical way instead of trying to group them based on the session. I think it will make for a better narrative flow. So far I think it’s been working. Oh, and I almost forgot to start recording again for the second session, but I remembered at the last second!


	4. Laying Low

As Axel and his crewmates stepped back aboard the _Maverick_ , the sound of the captain arguing with someone over the comm network could be heard echoing down the ship’s main corridor. Curious to see what was going on, Axel passed through the living quarters to the communications array, his two crewmates close behind. There he found the captain staring down a gruff looking man in a cowboy hat on the display.

“You _owe me_ , Drake,” the man sneered, his voice raspy.

“I don’t owe you shit, Rooker,” Cyrus retorted. “I had nothing to do what happened to your cargo. If anything, _you_ owe _me_.”

The man laughed. “That’s _real_ funny.” Then his face formed into menacing scowl. “If you don’t pay me back for that shipment, I’ll find you and kill you myself.”

“If that’s how you wanna play it, fine. I’ll be waiting for you.” With that, the captain hung up and the display went dark.

“What the hell was that about?” Axel asked. “Who was that?”

Cyrus turned to face his crew. “That … was Anton Rooker.”

The name sounded vaguely familiar to Axel, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “Who?” the mercenary asked.

“He runs a smuggling ring. Big name in this corner of the Galaxy. He’s the reason we’re in this mess.”

Axel felt anger surging as he jumped to a conclusion. “So you were smuggling spice for him?” he asked.

“What?” the captain asked, surprised. “No. Of course not. The Federation mixed our cargo up with his on Paso.”

“So, can’t we just call the Federation up and explain what happened?” Ace asked.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Cyrus said. “We didn’t exactly do ourselves any favors by running the way we did. They really don’t have any reason to believe us. Worse yet, now Rooker’s after us.”

“What for?” Axel asked. “We didn’t do anything to him.”

The captain sighed. “It may not be our fault, but the bastard’s still blaming us for it.”

“Is there any way for us to clear this up?” Taraka asked.

Cyrus shook his head. “No easy way.”

“Don’t tell me we have to steal the spice back,” Taraka said.

“That’s a bad idea. We don’t need to give the Federation _another_ reason to be mad at us. I think the best thing for us to do right now is lay low while we figure out how to deal with Rooker … and with the Federation. We’re going to be stuck in this sector for a while.”

“In the meantime, is there anything we can do to make up for lost time and money?” Taraka asked.

The captain stroked his facial scruff, a thoughtful look on his face. “We could try to pick up some more jobs, get the money we were supposed to get for our delivery. It hasn’t been long enough for word to have reached some of the more remote planets in the sector. We’re gonna need more money for sure if we’re gonna take on Rooker.”

“Sounds like a solid plan to me,” Axel said.

“Indeed,” Taraka agreed.

“Alright then,” the captain said. “Let’s get moving. Anya!”

“Yes, captain?” the _Maverick_ ’s pilot asked, poking her head out of the cockpit.

“Find us a civilized planet in the sector, as far from Paso as possible.”

“You got it, boss.”

* * *

It was quiet aboard the _Maverick_ as the ship dropped out of warp space in the Luminae system. Most of the members of the crew were relaxing in their quarters, trying to get some shuteye while the ship was in transit. Seeing that the ship had arrived at its destination, Captain Cyrus Drake stepped out of his room and made his way to the cockpit.

“Morning, Anya,” the captain said as he took a seat.

“Sleep well?” the pilot asked.

“As well as one can knowing there’s a bunch of pissed off smugglers after them,” Cyrus said with a laugh.

“Fair enough.”

Cyrus watched out the viewport as the planet Meridian drew nearer. The _Maverick_ ’s captain had been to the planet before and remembered it being quite beautiful. The planet’s northern and southern poles were covered in majestic mountainous regions which gave way to lush forests and, near the planet’s equator, what could only be described as a tropical paradise. Both of these regions made it a popular vacation destination for rich folks, for both summer and winter activities. Being the only civilized planet in this corner of Sector 32, it was also a major hub for Outer Rim traders and merchants. Most importantly, Meridian’s colonies were all funded by private Alliance corporations, meaning there was minimal direct involvement from the Federation. That made it the perfect place for the _Maverick_ crew to try to pick up a new job in their current predicament.

After breaking through the atmosphere, the _Maverick_ flew over one of the planet’s beautiful deep blue oceans, then a vibrant tropical jungle, eventually arriving at the colony known as Fortuna. Cyrus reached for the comms as the ship set down on a landing pad in the colony’s spaceport.

“Alright, boys,” the captain announced. “Time to get to work. We’ve got a job to find.” He then pushed himself up out of his seat and headed off to the cargo bay to meet up with his crew.

“Think we’ll find something on this rock, boss?” Axel asked as they walked down the ramp.

“Hopefully,” the captain replied.

As they stepped out onto the platform, the crew was greeted with a beautiful vista. Fortuna’s spaceport was nestled along the edge of a massive cliffside, and the landing pads were suspended above the jungle valley below, overlooking a winding river that flowed out toward the ocean. It was quite a sight to behold.

“What a pleasant view,” Ace commented.

“You said it, pal,” Cyrus said, patting his robotic crewmate on the shoulder. “But, unfortunately, we don’t have time to see the sights.”

Cyrus led his crew off the landing pad toward the spaceport main hub, stopping briefly to pay the docking fee. There were several other people milling about, presumably crewmembers of the various ships that were also docked in Fortuna’s spaceport. The _Maverick_ crew moved through the crowd, into the port’s indoor atrium where various merchants and traders had set up stalls to sell their wares.

“Where do we find a job in a place like this?” Taraka asked, looking around the atrium.

“Colonies like this usually have job boards — usually in the spaceport — where colonists can request goods and services from the crews of passing ships, from people like us.”

“Where might we find this job board?” Ace asked.

“Should be somewhere around here somewhere … Aha! There.” The captain spotted the job board against the far wall and began walking in that direction, his crew following behind.

Cyrus approached the board, then began scrolling through its holographic display. “Let’s see what we’ve got here … exotic foods … supply run … transport …” Looking through the list of jobs, the _Maverick_ ’s captain wasn’t finding much in the way of work that didn’t require traveling to worlds with strong Federation presence or dealing with people directly for long stretches of time. Those jobs wouldn’t do them much good if they wanted to keep a low profile.

Suddenly, one job caught Cyrus’s eye. “Now that’s interesting,” he muttered.

“What is it?” Axel asked.

“Peter Baker.”

“Who the hell is Peter Baker?”

“He’s this eccentric Alliance billionaire who lives here on Meridian. He’s probably Fortuna’s biggest funder.”

“What’s someone like that doing posting on a public job board?”

Cyrus stoked his facial scruff. “That’s the million credit question, isn’t it?” he asked. “What a peculiar job request it is too …”

“What’s the job?” Axel asked.

“He’s looking for someone to visit this planet on the far reaches of the sector. Apparently surveys have detected some sort of ruins on the planet and he wants someone to acquire some sort of ancient tech from them.”

“Isn’t that a job for archaeologists? I’m sure this Baker guy can afford to fund an expedition.”

“I’m sure he could, but I’m sure he has his reasons. He is known to be eccentric after all. It’s a little sketchy, sure, but it’s all totally legal … and the pay is good, so …”

“I say we take the job,” Taraka chimed in. “I would like to investigate these ruins as well. Maybe it will hold the key to my holoscroll.”

“Or my past,” Ace spoke up.

“I guess it’s settled then,” Cyrus said. The captain reached out to claim the job. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time. In fact, it was short enough that I wrote the whole thing over the course of one day, not including the time spent listening through the session recording to make the outline which I did a few days beforehand. For pacing reasons it made sense to make this its own chapter since it doesn’t make sense to combine either of the two scenes with the previous chapter or the next chapter. After wrapping up the combat encounter from the previous session, I fed the players a little bit of a plot hook explaining what the cargo mix-up was all about, introducing our first antagonist, Anton Rooker. The party decided they wanted to pick up another job to get some money in order to prepare for taking Rooker on, so they hit up a civilized planet. This session, I had my planet generator macro in Roll20 ready to go, so I tried it out, giving us Meridian, a planet with tropical biomes and snowy mountain biomes. One of my favorite things about using a planet generator is taking the info it spits out and using it to create an interesting planet description. Writing up the descriptions of Meridian for this chapter was a lot of fun. This part of the session was all kind of made up as I went along since I wanted to work on improv GMing with this campaign. Since I was still kind of getting a feel for it, it was a little rough for the session, but the players were supportive about it, and I got to touch it all up in going back to write the chapter. It’s just one of those things you get better at as you go along, and I definitely improved over the course of the campaign.


	5. Specters in the Swamp!

The crew of the _UAS Maverick_ gathered in the cockpit as the ship dropped out of warp space in the Vega system on the fringe of Sector 32. As the ship drew near the coordinates the crew had acquired from the job board on Meridian, Taraka watched a ball of greens and browns surrounded in swirling masses of gray clouds slowly fade into view out the front viewport.

“This is it,” Anya said as she brought the _Maverick_ into orbit. “Starting scans now.” The ship’s pilot hit a few buttons on the console, and data began scrolling across the main viewscreen.

After several moments, an alert popped up, marking a point on the planet’s southern hemisphere. It read _ANOMALY DETECTED_ in large, flashing red text.

“I’m willing to bet that’s where these ruins of ours are located,” Cyrus said.

Taraka nodded in agreement. “I concur,” the Sinai monk said.

“Anya, take us down,” the captain instructed the pilot.

“You got it,” she replied. Anya angled the controls forward, and the _Maverick_ began descending toward the planet below.

As the ship broke through the atmosphere, the crew was greeted with the sight of thick forests and muddy swamplands. It wasn’t the most hospitable planet Taraka had ever laid eyes on. The _Maverick_ continued to fly over the treetops until it reached the anomaly: a crumbling mass of towers and other structures built of stone and metal, overgrown and partially sunk into the swamp.

“There they are,” the captain said. “Now we just need to find a place to land. It’s definitely gonna have to be a ways off if we don’t want to get stuck here.”

“Over there,” Ace said, pointing at a flat, open patch of solid ground between the trees a few kilometers out from the ruins. The clearing in question appeared to be just large enough for the _Maverick_ to land. “I think we can land in that clearing there.”

“I see it,” Anya replied, steering the ship in that direction.

“Looks solid enough,” the captain said. “Might as well give it a shot.”

Anya flew the ship over the clearing, then brought it back around and set it down, finessing the controls to fit between the trees properly. Upon touching down, the ship listed a bit as it settled into the mud, then fell still.

“Alright, you three with me,” Cyrus said, turning to look at Taraka, Ace, and Axel.

Taraka followed the _Maverick_ ’s captain and his two crewmates to the back of the ship and down the cargo ramp. Stepping out onto the muddy ground, the Sinai monk looked around at his surroundings.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Axel said what Taraka was thinking. Something about the place was giving him a strange feeling.

“Creeps or no, we’ve got a job to do here,” the captain said.

“Yeah, let’s just be quick about it,” the mercenary replied.

“Right,” Ace agreed.

Cyrus took a step forward, toward a muddy pathway leading between the trees and away from the clearing. Taraka and his crewmates followed close behind. The group pressed onward, moving around large, gnarled tree roots and pools of putrid brown water. The further they walked, the more Taraka got the feeling they were being followed. The monk calmed his mind and reached out with his senses. He felt a presence lurking amongst the trees.

“There’s something out there,” Taraka announced, looking into the brush.

“We’re not here to fight you!” Axel shouted out.

“Keep it down,” Cyrus ordered the mercenary. “We don’t want to provoke whatever’s out there.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Axel replied. “Let’s just hurry up so we can get out of here and get paid. The sooner we leave the better.”

Before the _Maverick_ crew could proceed any further, Taraka suddenly spotted three shadowy shapes with glowing red eyes moving amongst the trees. The monk quickly recognized what he was looking at. “Ghost Pokemon,” he said, pointing in their direction.

“What?” Axel asked, turning to see what Taraka was looking at. As the mercenary spun around, a Gastly, a Shuppet, and a Duskull floated out toward the crew.

“I suggest we get out of here and make for those ruins,” Ace said as the three ghostly Pokemon began circling around them.

“They’ll just chase after us,” Cyrus responded as he reached for his pistol. “We should fight them off.”

Taraka nodded and reached for his Togetic’s Pokeball. The captain was right.

“Alright then,” Axel said, tossing out a Pokeball of his own. “Ritsu, Ember!” the mercenary shouted as his Charmander emerged. The fire lizard Pokemon spit out a jet of flames at the Gastly as she landed, but the gaseous ghost floated up and out of harm’s way. The Gastly then flew down at the Charmander and licked her face with its long, spectral tongue, causing the Pokemon to tense up.

Seeing his crewmate’s Pokemon in a tough situation, Taraka cast out a psionic barrier to protect it from further harm. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind!” the monk then commanded his own Pokemon. The Togetic flapped her wings furiously, sending out a blast of air that struck the Shuppet and sent it flying back. Angered by the attack, the puppet Pokemon fired back with a blast of ghostly energy, but Sirius didn’t seem to mind it.

Meanwhile, the Duskull moved up on Ace and unleashed its own ghostly attack. The captain quickly fired off a few shots at it, forcing it to retreat, freeing up Ace to let loose his own attack. He took aim at the Gastly with his rifle, dealing a decisive hit. Axel immediately chucked a Pokeball at it, capturing it instantly.

Taraka then pulled out a Pokeball of his own. The Shuppet attempted to float away as the monk tossed the ball at it, but it was no use. The ball found its mark and pulled the Pokemon inside. It then fell down into the mud and began to shake. It wobbled a couple times, then fell still.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Pokemon. The Charmander spit out another tongue of flame, this time targeting the Duskull.

“Sirius, use Fairy Wind!” Taraka ordered a follow-up attack. His Togetic sent a surge of wind in the Duskull’s direction, causing it to dissipate.

“That wasn’t so bad,” the captain said, holstering his pistol. “Now let’s head for that ruin.”

* * *

After a few hours spent traversing tangled swamp plants, twisting roots, muddy sinkholes, and pools of disgusting water along the winding path through the quagmire, the _Maverick_ crew eventually drew near the ruins. The path grew wetter and wetter as they moved into the ruins, passing through fallen towers poking out from beneath the deep pools of muddy water. It was quite clear to Taraka that whatever lay sunken in this swamp was very old.

Approaching the center of the ruins, the path all but disappeared. Right at their heart, Taraka could see a large structure rising up from the depths of the swamp. Of all the crumbled buildings, this one seemed the most intact. Unfortunately, there was no clear way of reaching it.

“This looks like a fine predicament,” Ace said as he walked up beside Taraka. “How are we supposed to get there.

“There must be a way,” Cyrus said. The _Maverick_ ’s captain pulled out a Pokeball and released his Talonflame. “Peregrine, see if you can find us a way across,” he commanded the Pokemon. The Talonflame flew up high and began circling, searching for a path.

In the meantime, Taraka decided to see what he could pick up from the ruin they now stood in. The monk found his way to a large, dry chunk of stone and climbed on top of it. He sat himself down in a meditative position and reached out with his mind. Closing his eyes, Taraka was able to glimpse flashes of images, but nothing that made sense. It was all just a convoluted jumble, except for one thing. Something lay within the central structure of the ruins.

Taraka slowly opened his eyes to see Ace looking at him. “What is it?” the monk’s robotic crewmate asked him.

“That structure is indeed where we must go,” Taraka answered.

“I bet that’s where we’ll find what Baker’s looking for,” Cyrus said. “Peregrine what did you find?” the captain asked as his Pokemon returned.

The Talonflame let out a piercing cry, then began flying off, around the side of the central structure. The _Maverick_ ’s crew followed the Pokemon, which led them to the far side of the building, to a narrow, winding strip of muddy ground leading to the structure between the large pools of water, to a large opening in the stone and metal wall.

“I guess this is the way we need to go,” Axel said.

“Sure looks like it,” the captain agreed. He took a step forward. “Shall we see what’s inside?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end of session 2. It was another shorter session since Ace's player ended up needing to leave to eat dinner and we couldn’t really proceed anyway since I needed time to prep the interior of the ruins. It made sense to end the chapter here as well and make exploring the interior its own chapter, so this one is a little on the short side. There wasn’t a whole lot that happened here aside from the combat encounter, and checking out the exterior of the ruins. I added a lot of dialogue to the opening part, and to the end. For better narrative pacing, I added the part with the Talonflame, and I’m happy with how it made the scene flow. As for funny things that happened during the session, Axel's player rolled almost all 1s on his focus check when first heading out into the swamp, despite it being his highest skill. We all had a good laugh about that. For the combat encounter, I decided to throw some weaker Pokemon at them, since the wild encounter on Scoria was almost too much for them with Pokemon near their Pokemon’s level. It was a nice quick fight that set the tone for the planet. I used the planet generator and it spat out forest, wetland, and ghost, so I put the ruins in a spooky ghost swamp! What lurks within?


	6. The Tangled Quagmire

The light grew dim as the _Maverick_ crew moved into the ruin. Ace followed behind the captain, looking around at their new surroundings as they went. From the entrance, the crew descended a flight of stairs into an open room that was almost entirely flooded, save for a narrow strip of the metal floor running through its center. As he crossed the room with his crewmates, Ace peered into the water, but it was far too murky to see how deep it went.

“Anyone care for a swim?” the captain asked jokingly.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Axel replied. “Let’s just find what we came here for and get out.”

As the crew advanced forward, Ace suddenly heard a splashing sound behind him. He turned just in time to see a terrifying plant monster rising up from a group of lilypads. The creature extended out its vines and latched onto Ace, pulling him toward the water. Ace struggled against it as it tried to take a bite out of him.

“A Carnivine!” Cyrus shouted. The _Maverick_ ’s captain pulled out his pistol and fired a few shots at the Pokemon, severing its vines.

Free from the creature’s grasp, Ace quickly backed away and reached for his own weapon. He took aim with his rifle and fired off a shot, hitting it right in its giant head.

As the Carnivine advanced toward the crew, a second one suddenly rose out of the water behind them. “Another one!” Axel shouted. The mercenary pulled out a Pokeball and released his Charmander. “Ritsu, use Ember!” he commanded the Pokemon, directing it after the new arrival. The Charmander spit out a jet of flame, but failed to land a hit. “ _Shit_ ,” Axel cursed. He raised his flamethrower and released a blast of his own, setting the Carnivine aflame. “That’s more like it!”

Axel seemed to have that one under control, so Ace turned his attention back to the other one. He raised his rifle once more and took another shot, taking it out of commission. Ace then turned back to help Axel out just in time to see a third one rising up. “Look out!” he warned his crewmate.

Axel quickly jumped back as the Carnivine reached out for him, narrowly avoiding the vines. Unfortunately, that put him in reach of the other one. Ace unloaded a salvo of laser fire as the creature extended its burning vines toward the mercenary, taking it down before it could reach him.

Axel nodded at Ace, then set his sights on the remaining Carnivine. “Ritsu, Ember!” the mercenary ordered his Pokemon. This time, the Charmander found her mark, setting the Carnivine on fire. Axel immediately followed up with a surge of flames from his flamethrower, completely burning the plant Pokemon away in a cloud of smoke and an eerie ghostly energy.

“Hopefully that was all of them,” Cyrus said, scanning the water for more.

As if on cue, another Carnivine sprung up out of the water. The Pokemon threw itself at Axel, but the mercenary was just out of reach and it flopped helplessly on the ground. While it was defenseless, Axel’s Charmander sprayed it with flames, setting it on fire like the others.

As the burning Carnivine tried to pick itself back up, Ace and Cyrus unloaded their weapons on it, rapidly removing its vine limbs, one after the other. With three more well placed shots to the head, the captain finished the Pokemon off. Cyrus spun his pistol around his finger, then shoved it down into its holster.

Ace looked around, checking to see if any more Carnivines planned on showing their ugly faces. After several moments, it was clear no more were coming.

“ _Now_ that’s all of them,” the captain said. “Let’s get moving.”

“Watch the rest of this place be crawling with them,” Axel grumbled as they moved into the next room.

The crew stepped out onto a platform in a long, high-ceilinged room over a large vertical drop. Ace looked across to the far side of the room and spotted another platform, then his gaze moved downward to see the bottom of the room was completely flooded.

“I think you might be right,” Ace said, looking over at Axel. He pointed out more clumps of lilypads in the water, a good six meters down.

“You just had to open your mouth, didn’t you?” the captain asked.

“We don’t have to fight them if we can find a way across,” Taraka suggested.

“Right,” Cyrus agreed. “We couldn’t swim across anyway. There’s no ladder on that side.”

“Well, I don’t think we’ll be jumping across,” Ace said.

Cyrus chuckled. “Definitely not.”

“So, how we gonna cross this, boss?” Axel asked.

The captain’s chuckle became a full on laugh. “You can figure something out, right?” he asked, slapping the mercenary on the back.

Ace took a look around again and spotted a thin ledge on the wall opposite from the door they had entered from. They would still need to jump for it, but it was certainly closer than the platform on the far side of the room. “There,” Ace said, pointing to the ledge. “If we can reach it, we can shimmy across. Axel, do you think you can throw me across?”

“I can try, but it won’t end well.”

“I think I can reach it,” the captain said. “I can see if there’s some way to extend a bridge or something from the other side.”

With that, Cyrus backed up through the door to get a running start. The _Maverick_ ’s captain sprinted toward the edge of the platform, then leapt off. Ace watched as he soared through the air and made contact with the ledge, grasping it with his fingers. Unfortunately, the metal surface was slippery with swamp slime, and the captain slipped. There was a loud splash as Cyrus fell into the water below.

Ace looked down to see the captain swimming for the ladder. He also spotted a Carnivine rising up out of the water behind him. “Look out!” he called out, but it was too late; the Carnivine extended out its vine tentacles and wrapped them around Cyrus.

Jumping to action, Axel quickly released his Charmander. “Ritsu, Ember!” he commanded the Pokemon. As the Charmander spit out a jet of flame down at the Carnivine, Axel ran to the edge and fired off his own from his flamethrower. The sudden rush of flames from above caused the Carnivine’s grip on the captain to loosen. Cyrus quickly seized the opportunity by punching the Pokemon in the face, knocking it off of him. The Carnivine immediately tried to grab him again, but Ace hit it with a burst of well-placed shots from his rifle. He watched as the Carnivine sank lifelessly back into the water.

Cyrus climbed back out of the water, then brushed off a few swamp plants that had hitched a ride on his coat. “Let’s not do that again,” he said.

“If you try again, we can give you a boost,” Ace suggested.

“I don’t think that will help very much,” the captain replied. “The ledge is far too slippery.”

“Maybe there’s a button or something on the other side,” Axel said. He reached for a Pokeball and released his recently captured Gastly. “Scion, fly over to the other side and see if you can find us a way across,” he instructed the Pokemon.

The Gastly floated off to the other side of the room, but he returned several minutes later with a confused expression on his face.

“What did you think would happen?” Cyrus asked him. “You didn’t exactly give it very specific instructions.”

“Hey, at least I’m trying to find a solution.”

Ace took another glance around the room, his attention this time falling on the vines hanging from the ceiling. “Maybe we could swing across on those vines,” he suggested, pointing to a series of four that could serve as a path across.

“Worth a shot,” the captain said. “After you.”

Ace nodded, then jumped for the first vine. It swung forward from his momentum, and he leapt to the next, and then the next. As he swung from the final vine to the platform, it suddenly snapped. Vine still in hand, Ace sailed through the air and crashed down to the platform. There was a loud screech as his metal body scraped along the floor.

“You alright over there?!” Cyrus called across the room as Ace picked himself up.

“I think so!” he shouted back. “But without that vine I don’t think you’ll be joining me over here!”

“See if there’s a button or something you can drag over!” Axel shouted.

“I’ll see what I can find!”

Ace took a look around his immediate area, but there was no obvious button to extend a bridge or anything of the sort. Finding nothing on the platform, Ace ventured into the corridor leading out of the room. It was rather dim, but he was able to make out a set of stairs. Ace descended down to the landing where he found yet more stairs. Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be anything of use.

Not wanting to venture too far from his crewmates, Ace began climbing back up the stairs. As he made his way back to the platform, he looked around at the architecture. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something about the place felt so familiar. He couldn’t help but wonder if these ruins were built by the same civilization that had created him.

“Did you find anything?!” Axel called across the gap upon Ace’s return.

“No!” he answered.

“Hmm.” Ace took another look around and his eyes fell upon the vine that had snapped off from the ceiling. He walked over and picked it up. “Hey, catch!” Ace called out as he prepared to throw the vine. He pulled back his arm and then let loose with all his might. The vine flew a short ways through the air, then fell down into the water.

“That wasn’t long enough anyway!” the captain called out. “We need a longer vine too!”

“What if we just use a vine to climb up on that side?!” Axel suggested.

Ace saw Cyrus point down at the Carnivines below and shake his head.

“Do you think we can weave these vines together into some kind of bridge?!” Ace called out to his crewmates.

“That could work!” the captain responded.

Ace pulled out his rifle and aimed it up at the ceiling. With a few well-placed shots, he cut several vines down, then he began collecting them.

As he was working on gathering enough vines to create a bridge, Ace suddenly heard a splash. He looked up to see Axel in the water, swimming over to his side of the room.

“Axel, what the hell are you doing?!” Cyrus shouted.

Seeing a Carnivine rising out of the water, Ace grabbed a vine and tied it around a broken support column, then dropped the other end into the water. He then grabbed his rifle again and began shooting at the Carnivine as it closed in on Axel.

Axel ignored the Pokemon entirely, and kept swimming for the vine, but another emerged from the water in front of him. The Carnivine attempted to grab him, but its leaf arms simply slapped harmlessly on his back. Ace fired another volley of shots off, blasting off its appendages and sending it sinking back into the water.

“Scion, use Hypnosis!” Axel shouted as he reached Ace’s side of the room. His Gastly swooped down and blasted the remaining Carnivine with hypnotic energy, putting it to sleep. With the Pokemon out of commission, Axel began swimming over to the vine Ace had dropped for him, but another one suddenly sprang up and latched onto him.

As Axel struggled with the Carnivine, Ace tried to line up a shot, but he didn’t want to risk hurting his crewmate. He quickly reached for his Ralts’s Pokeball and released him. “Blade, use Confusion on that Carnivine,” Ace commanded the Ralts. The Pokemon complied and unleashed a blast of psychic energy at the Carnivine, but it refused to let go of Axel.

“Scion, use Lick!” Axel called to his Pokemon as he continued to struggle against the Carnivine. His Gastly swooped in and licked the Pokemon with his long ghostly tongue, distracting it and giving Axel the opportunity he needed. The mercenary broke free from the Carnivine’s grasp, punched it in the face, then began swimming away. The Carnivine responded by swinging a vine glowing with a shadowy energy at Axel. Ace quickly fired another round of laser blasts at the Pokemon, taking it out.

The coast now clear, Axel swam over to the vine and climbed out. “Are you alright?” Ace asked as he helped pull his crewmate over the edge.

“I’ll live,” the mercenary grunted.

“Perhaps we should create a bridge for the others.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

* * *

“Nice work, Peregrine,” Cyrus said as his Talonflame brought over the end of the vine rope that Ace and Axel had tied together. The _Maverick_ ’s captain then turned to Taraka. “Give me a hand with this, will ya?” he asked the monk.

Taraka nodded and walked over. Together, the two men tied the end of the rope securely to a support column. “I think this will hold,” Taraka said as he looked over their handiwork. He wasn’t entirely sure for how long it would, however.

“One way to find out,” Cyrus said. The captain climbed up onto the vine rope and began inching across. Taraka held his breath as he watched Cyrus cross the gap, hoping the rope would hold. He breathed a sigh of relief once he made it to the other side.

 _My turn now_ , Taraka thought as he prepared to cross himself. The monk tried his best not to look down as he slowly but surely made his way across the gap. He was very glad once he was able to put his feet back on solid ground.

“It looked like it goes a lot deeper,” Taraka heard Ace say as he climbed off the vine rope. “There was a huge set of stairs down there, but I didn’t go all the way down.”

“Let’s see what’s down there, shall we?” Cyrus asked.

Taraka followed behind the captain and his crewmates as they made their way down the dimly lit staircase. After several minutes, they eventually emerged into a chamber with a narrow vine-covered bridge crossing over a deep, dark pit. Taraka peered over the edge and was unable to see the bottom.

“That’s a long way down,” the monk commented.

“Then we’d better hurry up and cross,” Cyrus said.

“I don’t think it’s safe,” Ace said. “There could be more Carnivines.” He pointed at the vines covering the bridge and hanging down from the ceiling.

“It’ll be fine,” the captain replied. “I think those vines are just vines.”

“If you say so.”

With that, Ace began walking across the bridge. Axel was next, and he and his Charmander both crossed just fine. It seemed that the captain was right.

Taraka and Cyrus followed their crewmates, but when they were halfway across, a vine suddenly sprang to life and wrapped itself around the captain’s leg. Cyrus let out a shout of surprise as he was ripped off the bridge. Moments later, the sound of a splash echoed up from below.

“Are you still alive?!” Axel called down as Taraka quickly ran the rest of the way across the bridge.

“ _Yeah_ , I’m still alive!” came the captain’s reply.

“Are you alright?!” Taraka asked.

“I’ll be fine! There seems to be a passage down here! I’ll see if I can find a way to link back up with you!”

“Should we jump down and join you?!” Axel asked.

“I think you’re better off up there! I’ll find my way out!”

“Alright, be safe!” Taraka called down.

“I guess we should keep moving, then,” Ace said.

“Indeed,” Taraka agreed.

The trio pressed on into the ruin, moving through a series of corridors and then down another long flight of stairs. As they reached the bottom, they stepped off the stairs onto a mud-covered landing at the entrance to a large, open chamber that was almost completely flooded. On both the left and right side of the chamber, the water appeared quite deep, but a strip of much shallower water led through the middle, to a muddy “island” in the center of the room upon which sat some sort of metal object with a huge mass of vines surrounding it. The tendril-like plant growths extended out from the mass in all directions, leading out towards other parts of the ruin. Taraka got the sense that this tangled mass of vines was connected to all the vines they had seen on their way down.

“I think whatever we came here to find might be inside that ball of vines,” Taraka said to the others.

“Then let’s go get it,” Ace said as he began walking toward it.

“Wait a minute,” Axel said, grabbing his robotic crewmate by the arm. “This feels like a trap. We should think carefully before we do anything.”

“I agree,” Taraka chimed in. “I believe those vines might be housing some sort of Pokemon.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” Ace asked.

“It might attack us if we get close,” Axel said. “We should strike first … from a distance.”

“Alright,” Ace said. He pulled out his rifle, aimed it at the mass of vines, then pulled the trigger. All the vines in the room trembled suddenly as the shot made contact, then a spooky pair of red eyes appeared, peering at the crew through the vines. Then, two large, red-tipped vine arms shot out from the mass.

“It’s a Tangrowth!” Taraka exclaimed. “A big one!”

“This was a bad idea!” Axel shouted.

“It was _your_ idea!” Ace shouted back.

“It doesn’t matter whose idea it was now,” Taraka told his crewmates. “We need to figure out what to do about this thing. I think we made it mad.”

“We’ll just have to fight it!” Axel shouted. “C’mon, Ritsu, let’s take this thing out!” The mercenary began running toward the Tangrowth with his Charmander by his side. He fired off a blast from his flamethrower, but the massive Pokemon blew the flames out with a sweep of its large vine appendage.

Ace took a few shots at it, then threw out a Pokeball, releasing his Ralts once more.“Blade, Confusion!” he commanded the Pokemon. The Ralts moved up and shot off a burst of psychic energy, hitting the Tangrowth dead on. The attack only seemed to make it mad, as four more giant vine arms shot up from the deep water, wildly flailing around. Taraka ducked as one swung overhead, but Axel’s Charmander was not so lucky and took a hit.

Seeing what they were up against, Taraka threw up a psionic barrier to protect himself, his crewmates, and their Pokemon. He knew this was going to be a tough fight. The monk then released a Pokemon of his own. “Spooperz, use Night Shade!” he commanded as his newly captured Shuppet appeared. The ghostly Pokemon blasted the Tangrowth with her attack, getting its attention. The giant vine Pokemon responded by striking the Shuppet with one of its massive vine arms, the end glowing with shadowy energy. Spooperz went down from the powerful hit almost instantaneously. _Next time_ , Taraka thought as he recalled his fainted Pokemon.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Charmander as Taraka released his Ponyta. The fiery lizard spit out a jet of flame at the Tangrowth, and her trainer immediately followed up with one of his own with his flamethrower.

The sudden rush of flames seemed to truly enrage the vine monster. It let out a horrifying noise as the vine arms sticking up out of the water moved in toward Axel and Ritsu. One wrapped around the mercenary while the other grabbed his Pokemon. Both were lifted up into the air as the Tangrowth began squeezing the life out of them.

“Blaze, use Flame Wheel!” Taraka commanded his newly released Ponyta. “Hit that vine!” The fire horse charged at the vine arm holding Axel’s Charmander, completely coating himself over in flames. Blaze made contact, burning through a chunk of the vine arm, but it still kept a tight grip on the Pokemon it held. The Tangrowth responded in kind, extending another vine arm out to strike the Ponyta, dealing a heavy blow. Taraka was relieved to see that his Pokemon managed to stay standing.

“Blade, Confusion!” Ace then ordered his own Pokemon. As his Ralts let out a blast of psychic energy, Ace took aim with is rifle and fired off a few shots. The Tangrowth raised one of its vine arms to deflect the laser blasts, but it could do nothing against Blade’s attack.

Meanwhile, as Ritsu struggled to free herself of the vine clutching her, she managed to spray some fire in just the right spot. The Charmander’s flames finished the job that Taraka’s Ponyta started, severing the vine arm entirely. As soon as she landed, Ritsu rushed over to the vine holding her trainer and began spitting flames at it.

As the vine arm continued to jostle Axel around, the mercenary completely let loose with his flamethrower, spewing a massive stream of flames out. By some miracle, the vine arm moved him on just the right path so that the entire arc of flame hit the Tangrowth’s main body, setting it afire.

The Tangrowth wailed in agony as the flames burned through its vines. The vine arm holding Axel then began to glow. Taraka could tell that it was trying to drain the life out of his crewmate; he knew he needed to do something. _Here goes nothing_ , the monk thought as he pulled out a Pokeball. He lobbed it right at the burning mass of vines and it pulled it in. The four massive vine arms rising up from the water all went limp as they were disconnected from the Pokemon controlling them. There was a loud splash as the vines, along with Axel, fell back into the murky water.

As Axel climbed back onto land, Taraka walked over to collect his capture. _Welcome to the team_ , he thought as he placed the ball into an open slot on his belt. The monk then turned his attention to what his new Tangrowth had been surrounding.

“What do you think it is?” Ace asked as he approached the large, angular technological artifact. “It looks important.”

“Well, it _is_ our next paycheck,” Axel said as he joined them. “Now, how are we gonna get this thing back to the ship?”

“Let’s let the captain figure that one out,” Ace said.

Axel patted his robotic crewmate on the back. “I like the way you think, Ace.”

“We need to figure out what happened to him first,” Taraka pointed out. The monk glanced around the chamber to see if Cyrus had found his way to them.

“I’m sure he’ll be along any moment now,” Axel said. “Let’s see what’s over there in the meantime.” The mercenary pointed to a door on the side of the chamber opposite from where they had entered. “There might be something else valuable in there.”

“Very well,” Taraka agreed.

The trio made their way across the chamber and through the door. After ascending what felt like a rather long spiral staircase, they arrived in yet another large, open chamber. This one was devoid of mud and water like the last one and extended far above to a round opening revealing the sky. The light from the opening shone down upon a raised pedestal in the center of the room, while a faded mural stretched along the wall, across the entire room.

“Man, there’s nothing here,” Axel grumbled.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Taraka told his crewmates. His senses were telling him that there was something there in the room, something important. He felt drawn toward the pedestal. The monk approached, stepping into the light shining down from above. Taraka stepped up onto the pedestal and gazed around the room, his eyes scanning the mural as he turned. Then, suddenly, the monk felt his mind open as he was struck with a powerful vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it, our first long chapter. For this session, I felt it made the most sense to make the whole session one chapter since it was a dungeon crawl. We ended where we did in the previous session since I needed time to design the dungeon, and I’m very glad I had the time to do it. I thought it turned out very well. I did forget to start the recording again so I had to piece together what happened in the beginning combat and change a few details, but it still turned out nicely. My plan for this dungeon was to fill it with Pokemon that would grapple the players and drag them into the water to drown them. Unfortunately, I rolled like garbage the entire time. I think only about 20% of the grapple attempts were successful, and those that were never got the chance to start drowning anything. And then my dungeon boss got wrecked so hard when Axel's player got a critical Flame Burst off. It’s entire second health bar just evaporated instantly. As for special things in this dungeon, both the Carnivines and the Tangrowth were Grass/Ghost type-shifted since it fit the vibe of the planet. They were fun to build.
> 
> Taraka's player ended up running late and missed the first half of the session, arriving just after the party had crossed the vine rope they made, so that’s why he didn’t do much in this chapter before that point. I did insert some lines here and there for the sake of the narrative, however. To make up for the missing player, I had the captain help them out in combat since the dungeon was scaled for three players, but once Taraka's player returned, I snatched him away since I needed to maintain that scale. You’ll find out what happened to him next chapter.


	7. Visions and Victreebels

Taraka stood atop a tall tower, gazing down at a sprawling city all around him, its spires and structures existing in harmony with large trees. The monk stood at the heart of the city, upon a familiar looking central structure rising up from a beautiful blue lake. Advanced flying vehicles moved between the towers on the skyline, the likes of which Taraka had never seen before.

Suddenly, the monk’s vision clouded. The view of the city faded as he was bombarded with glimpses of events, flashes of history. The flow of images was overwhelming; there was far too much information for Taraka to process. Then, just as quickly as they began, the flashes stopped.

Taraka opened his eyes to see his hand outstretched, fingers tightly wrapped around his holoscroll. The monk retracted his arm and examined the scroll. One of its sections now glowed with a pale purple light. A slight smirk appeared on Taraka’s face; he was finally on the right track.

“Are you alright?” Taraka heard Ace ask, a concerned tone in his voice.

Taraka looked up at his crewmate and his smirk grew into a wide grin. “I am fine,” the monk told his crewmate.

“Great,” Axel said. “That means we can go back and search for valuables in the other room. There was certainly no treasure here.”

“The treasure was knowledge,” Taraka replied, holding up his scroll.

“That may work for you, but I need something more tangible.”

With that, the Mercenary turned and headed toward the room’s exit. Taraka let out a brief chuckle as he followed his crewmate out.

* * *

Captain Cyrus Drake kept his pistol raised as he moved through the overgrown tunnel, its flashlight attachment lighting his way. Ever since he climbed out of the pool he fell into, the _Maverick_ ’s captain had been navigating through a series of dark, winding corridors full of vines and other plants. It had been quite some time, but he still felt no closer to finding a way out.

 _This passage must lead somewhere_ , he thought as he pressed on. Whoever had built this place must have had a reason for putting it there. Cyrus just hoped that it didn’t lead to a caved in or flooded section. That would make getting out much more difficult.

Suddenly, the captain felt a vine shift under his foot, then he heard a low gurgling noise. “ _Not again_ ,” he said as the vine wrapped around his leg and lifted him up in the air. Dangling upside-down, Cyrus flailed his arm around as he tried to locate what was grabbing him. The beam of his light soon revealed that the vine was dangling him over the gaping mouth of the largest Victreebel he had ever laid eyes upon, digestive juices bubbling up from inside.

“Oh, shit!” the captain shouted. He began rapidly pulling the trigger, but was unable to land a shot. The only thing he was successful in accomplishing was aggravating the Pokemon that was holding him captive. Pain shot through his body as the Victreebel slammed him into the wall.

 _I need to try something else_. Cyrus grabbed the first Pokeball on his belt he could grab. It didn’t matter too much which one he ended up with since both of his two Pokemon had the advantage against his assailant. The captain hit the button on the ball, releasing his Talonflame.

“Peregrine, use Flame Charge!” Cyrus commanded the newly released Pokemon. The Talonflame let out a fierce cry as he charged at the Victreebel, body surrounded in flames. Peregrine struck dead on with enough force that the Flycatcher Pokemon released the captain from its grasp. Cyrus grunted as he made contact with the ground.

Now on the defensive, the Victreebel unleashed a barrage of razor-sharp leaves at its attackers. Cyrus quickly rolled out of the way, while his Pokemon flew up above the incoming projectiles. The captain then picked himself up and fired off a few shots at the Victreebel. “Now, Quick Attack!” he then commanded. The Talonflame dove down at the Victreebel, dealing a decisive hit.

Seeming desperate now, the Victreebel sprayed its digestive acid at Cyrus and his Pokemon. Cyrus quickly threw his arms up to protect his face, but it still hurt like hell. He could feel the acid burning through the sleeves of his coat. Being a bit further away, Peregrine seemed a bit better off, but he was still a little worse for wear.

“Peregrine, use Roost,” the captain instructed his Talonflame before reaching for a Pokeball. He tossed it at the Victreebel, and the Pokemon was pulled inside. The ball fell the ground, shook once, then broke open. _Damn_.

As soon as it was free, the Victreebel sprayed Cyrus with a powder that left him stunned. The _Maverick_ ’s captain fought through the pain and reached for another Pokeball. He threw it with all his might, hitting the Pokemon dead on. The ball fell to the ground just like the last one, then shook once … twice … three times … then it fell still.

“You’re mine now,” Cyrus said as he walked over to claim his prize. He picked up the ball and placed it on his belt. The captain then turned to his Talonflame, perched on a support beam near the ceiling. “C’mon, Peregrine. Let’s find a way out of here.”

* * *

Upon returning to the flooded chamber where he and his crewmates had fought the oversized Tangrowth that was now in Taraka’s possession, Axel began searching through the muck to see if there were any other valuable items. The large piece of ancient technology in the center of the room would net Axel and his crewmates their next paycheck, but the mercenary hoped to make a little extra on the side if possible.

While Taraka and Ace examined the artifact, Axel walked around the edge of the water, sifting through the swamp weeds for anything he might have missed on a first glance around the room. After a few minutes, the mercenary spotted what appeared to be some sort of storage container, halfway submerged in a mud puddle. “What have we here,” he said to himself as he crouched down to fish it out. Axel gripped the container with both hand, then pulled with all his might. For a few moments, it refused to budge, but then it popped out, almost knocking Axel onto his rear end. The mercenary caught his balance, then placed the container down.

He quickly located a means of opening it and took a look inside. For the most part, the contents of their container appeared to be useless junk, but Axel found two evolutionary stones: A leaf stone and a sun stone. “These might come in handy,” the mercenary said as he slipped the stones into his pocket. He then stood up and headed back over to the others.

“Do you think that new Tangrowth of yours could carry it out of here?” Axel heard Ace ask Taraka as he approached.

“It may be able to,” Taraka replied. “It did seem quite powerful.”

“It better be able to,” Axel chimed in. “Otherwise we’re not gettin’ very far with—”

A sudden series of splashes cut the mercenary’s words short. Axel turned in the direction of the noise to see Cyrus climbing over a large clump of vines, his Talonflame flying along behind him. Both the captain and his Pokemon were covered in grime.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Axel declared. “I was beginning to think you got lost.”

Cyrus laughed. “You’d like that wouldn’t you, Axel? But no, I found my way out. Had to deal with some new friends along the way, but I made it.”

“Well, you’re just in time to help us lug this thing out of here.” Axel looked over at the technological artifact.

“I assume this is what we came to find?” the captain asked.

“It damn well better be. We went through a lot of trouble to get this thing.”

“What did I miss?”

“There was a giant Tangrowth wrapped around it,” Ace informed the captain. “Taraka captured it.”

“Nice work,” the captain said, turning to face the Sinai monk.

“I’ll say,” Axel chimed in. “It wasn’t an easy fight.”

“Well, it is on our side now,” Taraka said. “And it just may be the means by which we can move this artifact.” The monk pulled out a Pokeball and released his newly captured Pokemon. “Alright, my new friend,” he said. “We require your assistance.”

* * *

“This is the fun part,” Cyrus said as the _Maverick_ crew arrived back at the large gap they had crossed with the vine rope.

“I am not sure that this qualifies as fun,” Ace replied. He looked back at the giant artifact they had recovered that was now held in the Tangrowth’s vines. “Getting this thing across the gap will be difficult.”

“I do not think it will be too difficult,” Taraka chimed in. The monk turned to his new Pokemon. “Let’s see what you can do, my friend.”

The Tangrowth set the artifact down, then extended its vine arms toward the ceiling, interlacing them with the vines on the ceiling. The Pokemon then extended more vines downward, gripping the artifact again. Ace watched as the Tangrowth moved along the ceiling using the vines hanging down along with its own, safely transporting the artifact across.

“Impressive,” the captain said, patting Taraka on the back. “I have a feeling this new friend of yours is going to come in handy in the future.”

“We can celebrate that later,” Axel said. “Let’s get out of this place first.”

The captain laughed. “You have a point there. I know I could use a good shower.”

With that, the _Maverick_ crew began crossing the vine rope. When his turn came, Ace spotted one of the Carnivine’s from earlier as he climbed onto the rope. It was still snoozing. “Hold on a minute,” he said. Ace climbed down off the rope, then pulled out a Pokeball. He lobbed it down at the Carnivine, but it missed and plopped down into the water.

“Nice throw!” Axel shouted from the other side.

Ace ignored the mercenary and pulled out another ball. He threw it at the Pokemon below, but it too missed. Annoyed, Ace took out a third Pokeball. _Third time’s a charm_ , he thought as he threw the ball. This time, the ball made contact and pulled the Pokemon inside. It then sank down into the water.

“Great. Now how am I going to get it out?”

“Allow us to assist!” Taraka shouted across. The monk looked over at his Tangrowth, then pointed down at the water. The Pokemon reached down with its vines and fished out all three of Ace’s Pokeballs.

Ace then crossed the gap to rejoin his crewmates and collect his Pokeballs. “Thanks,” he told Taraka and his Pokemon.

“I am happy to help,” the monk replied, a friendly smile on his face.

“And I’ll be happy when we get paid,” Axel said.

“Oh, don’t you worry, pal,” Cyrus said. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

* * *

“Alright, that should do it,” Erik said as removed the last clump of mud from Ace’s joints. The engineer leaned back in his seat and watched his robotic companion flex his knee joints.

“Much better,” Ace said. “I didn’t realize how clogged with mud I was.”

“The good news is that that seems to be the only real issue. It seems like whoever built you designed you to withstand a lot.”

“That’s good, but I’d like to avoid going back to another swamp for a while.”

Erik laughed. “I don’t blame you.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, then Axel walked into the room.

“Axel, what can I do for you, my friend?” Erik asked.

“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” the mercenary said.

“Sure. What do you need?”

“Armor. I’m tired of getting shot and hit with deadly vines.”

Erik laughed again. “I think I can help with that. I can whip up something that will integrate nicely with your flamethrower. I’ll need some supplies though. Once we get paid for that artifact you guys found, we’ll definitely be able to afford everything I need.”

“Excellent. Well, I’ve got some training to do. Care to join, Ace? My Pokemon could use some sparring partners.”

“Alright,” Ace agreed. “I think my Pokemon need some more practice too.”

With that, the two left Erik’s workshop, leaving the engineer to himself. “Alright, let’s see here,” he said to himself as he turned back to his worktable. He activated his computer terminal and pulled up his drafting software. His brain was already filling with ideas for Axel’s armor. He knew the mercenary would be quite satisfied with his design.

* * *

Taraka sat cross-legged on the bed in his quarters, his holoscroll sitting in front of him. As the _Maverick_ flew through warp space back to Meridian, the monk was meditating on his recent vision, hoping it might give him a clue to help discover the location where he would receive his next one. Holoscrolls tended to pick up a lot more than what Sinai monks were consciously able to perceive while initially seeing their visions, so it was common practice among them to meditate with their scrolls throughout the pilgrimages for guidance. Each time, there was a chance of seeing something they may have missed the first time. Unfortunately for Taraka, it wasn’t the case this time. The monk was still seeing the same glimpses of ancient history without being able to make sense of them.

Of course, the vision he had received in the swamp ruins wasn’t the only thing Taraka had to rely on for clues as to where he might need to head next. The monk thought back to when he first assembled his holoscroll in the Grand Monastery on Mechorah, and his mind filled with the vision he had received there, the one that was meant to guide him on his pilgrimage. Taraka once again saw the same four things: an ancient ruin, crumbling and decaying from millennia of disrepair and the forces of nature taking their toll; a gem glowing with energy, radiating out a brilliant light; a small leatherbound book, its pages filled with words handwritten in an unfamiliar language; and a shadowy figure — a silhouette against a blinding white light.

The ruin had been the most straightforward clue, so Taraka had sought it out first. The vision had led him to many ruins until finally he found his way to the right one. Now that he had received his first vision, he could see clearly that the ruin he had seen in his vision back on Mechorah and the ruin in the swamp were one in the same. The other clues were harder to pin down. They all seemed far more specific, but also more vague at the same time. The monk felt that it would be a long while yet before he was able to make sense of them.

“We’ll be touching down on Meridian in five minutes.”

The sound of the captain’s voice over the ship’s comms pulled Taraka out of his meditations. The monk opened his eyes and took in a deep breath of air, then stood up. He picked up his scroll and placed it gently into the pocket in his robe where he kept it before stepping out of the room. There would be more time to meditate later.

* * *

Axel joined the rest of the _Maverick_ ’s crew at the front of the ship as it broke through Meridian’s atmosphere. Unlike their previous visit to the planet, instead of landing in Fortuna’s spaceport, Anya flew the ship to the private landing pad they had been directed to deliver the artifact to. The coordinates were quite a ways out from the colony in an isolated location, so Axel was greeted with a mostly uninterrupted view of the jungle as the ship passed below the clouds. The only structure in sight was a massive villa perched on a cliffside, overlooking a beautiful lake. Axel could only assume it was Peter Baker’s private residence.

“This guy’s doing well for himself,” Ace commented as the ship drew near.

“You don’t say,” Axel said.

“I did say he was a billionaire,” the captain chimed in. “Did you expect anything less?”

Before Axel could say anything, the _Maverick_ received a hail. Anya accepted the call, and a man with a serious face appeared on the viewscreen. If Axel were to hazard a guess, he would assume the man was private security. “Identify yourselves,” he said.

“This is the _UAS Maverick_ ,” the captain answered. “We’re here to deliver a package for Peter Baker.”

“Right,” the man responded. “You’re clear to land.”

The screen went blank, and Anya began the landing procedure. A few moments later, the _Maverick_ touched down on the villa’s private landing pad.

“Alright, boys, let’s go get paid,” Cyrus said, getting up from his seat.

A grin appeared on Axel’s face. “It’s about damn time.”

Axel followed the captain to the cargo hold where they were greeted by several men walking up the ramp with antigrav repulsor handcarts. “You the ones delivering the tech from the ruin?” one of them asked as they approached.

“You bet,” Cyrus answered.

The man nodded, then motioned for the others to get the artifact loaded up on the carts. He then pulled out a datapad. “Your payment,” he said, swiping his hand across the datapad to transfer funds. “Forty-thousand credits, as promised.”

Axel grinned. They hadn’t been paid so much money at once in a long time. The mercenary was looking forward to having some spending money again.

“So, what is this thing, anyway?” the captain asked, eyeing the artifact as he slipped his Pokedex back into his pocket.

“Hell if I know. All I know is the bossman wants it. I just oversee deliveries to the villa.”

“Was worth asking,” Cyrus said with a shrug.

“I suppose. Now, not to rush you, but we’ve got another delivery coming through soon, so I’m gonna have to ask you to get moving.”

“No complaints here,” the captain replied. “Have a nice day, pal.”

* * *

Axel whistled as he made his way through Fortuna’s spaceport back to the _Maverick_. After subtracting out some funds for fuel and supplies, the captain had divvied up the payment for the delivery amongst the ship’s crew, giving each of them five-thousand credits to spend. While the ship was refueling, Axel had picked up a couple of fire stones from the market in the spaceport. After a little more training his recently captured Vulpix and Growlithe would be ready for evolution. Now the mercenary was prepared for when the time came.

As he stepped back aboard the ship, he found the crew discussing where they were heading to next. “I would like to go somewhere where I can buy different weapons,” Ace said. “I’m not liking this rifle much.”

“And I need to pick up some supplies for my current project,” Erik added. “You can’t find the right stuff in a small colony like this one.”

“Unfortunately, we’d need to visit a more established planet,” the captain said. “And that means more Federation presence. We still need to keep a low profile.”

“There’s always the black market,” Axel spoke up.

“I suppose that will be our only option,” Cyrus replied.

“I know of a few places,” Axel said. “In this sector, our best bet is Crion.”

“I agree, but the only problem is that Crion is Rooker’s base of operations, so we’ll still need to be careful.”

“He might not expect us to show up there, though,” Taraka chimed in.

“I suppose that’s true, and we can land in one of the more distant ports. There’s places on Crion one can go if they do not wish to be found. Alright, Anya, set a course.”

“Sure thing boss.” The pilot fired up the engines, and the _Maverick_ was soon on its way to its next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, session four. We started a bit late since Taraka's player and Axel's player were both running late. We started once Taraka's player showed up and took care of wrapping up some things in the ruins, but Axel's player showed up before they returned to the ship. I was very vague with the details I gave Taraka's player for his character's vision at the end of the previous session since I originally wasn’t planning on giving him one, but I felt like it was a good moment for it. I provided him a bit more info at the start of this session, but I fleshed it out a whole lot more for writing the opening scene. I also wrote up a scene that wasn’t in the session with him meditating with his scroll to flesh out his character more. I sat down and thought more about the details of his pilgrimage visions and what he was looking for to complete his scroll, which is information that will help Taraka's player out with knowing what to do with his character next. I wrote this chapter several weeks ago so I passed the relevant info onto him then.
> 
> I also added a scene to show what the captain was up to since in session I just had him show up. I decided to throw another Pokemon his way for the hell of it, to give him more than just the one Pokemon that we’ve seen him use. As seen in the previous chapter he occasionally helps the party out with stuff so having more Pokemon seemed like a good idea. It was a fun little scene to write up. I actually had everything built and simulated the battle with rolls in roll20 because I was bored one day. It was a nice change of pace.
> 
> The first part of this session was mostly tying up loose ends from the previous session, so that’s what I focused on in this chapter. A lot of it was taking very short bits of rp-less explanation and just fluffing it up with narrative to make an interesting read. I’m happy with how it turned out. The real meat of the session gets covered in the next chapter.


	8. A Frosty Fight

Captain Cyrus Drake of the _UAS Maverick_ walked onto his ship’s bridge as it dropped out of warp space in the remote Melkor system on the border of Sector 32 and unexplored space. The Alliance space captain reached for the comms as Anya steered the ship toward the planet Crion. “We’ll be touching down in a few minutes,” he announced to the rest of the ship’s crew.

Cyrus then turned to the _Maverick_ ’s pilot. “Anya, land in one of the more distant ports,” he instructed her. “On the forest side of the planet.”

“You got it,” Anya replied.

The _Maverick_ ’s captain watched out the viewport as the ship approached its destination. Crion was a snow-covered alpine forest world covered in strange psionic crystals that resulted in an abundance of psychic Pokemon. While they could be found all over the planet, about half of its surface was an arctic wasteland with high concentrations of the the crystals. The other half of the planet was covered in large mountain ranges and valleys with dense coniferous forests. There were a few settlements on the planet, mostly in the more forested region, but the planet’s cold climate and out of reach location made it a haven for all sorts of criminal scum — smugglers, black market dealers, and the like. Most notorious of the bunch was Anton Rooker, a man who just so happened to be out to get the Captain Drake and his crew.

Crion normally wasn’t a place Cyrus wanted to be, even moreso with Rooker after him, but given the rest of the circumstances he and the rest of his crew found themselves in, it was the best place to get what they needed. Sighing, the captain headed toward the cargo bay as his ship broke through the planet’s atmosphere.

Once the _Maverick_ had touched down, Cyrus departed from the ship, bringing Axel, Taraka, Ace, and Erik with him. “Alright, let’s get what we came for,” he said.

“Alright,” Erik said. “I’m going to go see what supplies I can find for my current project. I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

“Watch your back,” Cyrus told his friend, giving him a pat of the shoulder.

Erik laughed. “I know how to handle myself in places like this.” With that, the _Maverick_ ’s engineer departed.

“Well then, let’s go get some weapons,” Cyrus said, turning to the rest of his crew.

After some wandering through the streets of the spaceport, the _Maverick_ crew stepped into the shop of a black market arms dealer. “Welcome, comrades!” the portly Romanov owner greeted them as they walked through the door. “What can Vlad do for you?”

“My friends here could use some weapons,” the captain replied, motioning toward his crew.

“Well, you have certainly come to right place,” the man, apparently named Vlad, said with a laugh. “Any weapon you need, you can buy from Vlad.”

The crew spent the next several minutes browsing Vlad’s wares. Cyrus and Axel, of course, didn’t need any weapons, but Taraka picked up a lightweight metal bo staff to use for protection, not being a fan of using firearms, and Ace traded in his laser rifle for a laser sword and an arm mounted energy shield.

Satisfied with his new weapons, Ace returned to the ship. Axel and Taraka said they wanted to go out and search for Pokemon in the forest surrounding the port, and they too departed. The captain, meanwhile, stayed behind to talk to Vlad to purchase some heavy ordnance to use in their inevitable confrontation with Rooker.

* * *

Axel shivered as he and Taraka wandered through the forest. “I hate this cold,” he grumbled.

“You were the one who wanted to join me,” Taraka replied, chuckling. Despite being dressed lighter, the monk didn’t appear to mind the cold air too much.

The pair had been exploring for a good while and had yet to run across any Pokemon. They had already discussed turning back, but both agreed that they wanted to make the hike worthwhile. Neither wanted to return to the ship until they found some Pokemon.

As the two were walking through the trees, there was a loud rumbling sound and the ground began to shake, causing snow to fall from the branches of the nearby evergreen trees. “Did you hear that?” Axel asked, looking over at his Sinai crewmate.

Taraka nodded, reaching for a Pokeball as he did so. “A large wild Pokemon, I would imagine,” he said as he released his Ponyta.

“Let’s go check it out,” Axel said, releasing his Charmander. He then began heading in the direction of the rumbling sound.

As the two drew nearer to the source of the sound, hail began to fall from the sky. “I have a bad feeling about this,” Taraka commented as they pressed on.

Stepping out into an open clearing, they were greeted by the sight of a large Beartic duking it out with an Abomasnow. The two Pokemon’s arms were locked as they fought for dominance. Meanwhile, a blue-furred Alakazam was seated upon a large rock with a pinkish crystal jutting out of it nearby, observing the two brawling Pokemon.

“Those Pokemon look pretty powerful,” Axel said, turning to Taraka. “Whad’ya say we catch ‘em?”

The monk nodded in agreement.

“Alright, Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Charmander. He then charged forward alongside his Pokemon, and the two of them unleashed a rush of flames at the Abomasnow, which had its back turned to them. Unfortunately, the hail, which had grown in intensity, interrupted the flow of fire, preventing it from finding its mark.

“I guess we just need to get closer,” Taraka said, running up behind his crewmate. “Blaze, use Flame Wheel!” he then ordered his Pokemon. The Ponyta charged at the Abomasnow, completely surrounded in flames. The Pokemon collided with his target, erupting in an explosion of flames as he made contact.

The hit seemed to do a real number on the Abomasnow, so Taraka pulled out a Pokeball and threw it at it. The Pokemon was pulled inside, but it promptly broke out. Emerging from the ball in an enraged state, the Abomasnow turned and struck Taraka’s Ponyta with one of its massive arms, dealing a nasty blow. However, the Beartic it had been fighting seized the opportunity while its back was turned, swiping at it with its sharp claws, taking it down.

With the Abomasnow out of commission, Axel shifted his focus to the Beartic. “Ritsu, Ember!” he commanded his Pokemon, directing it after the large ice bear. The Charmander spit out a jet of fire, setting the Beartic aflame as Axel aimed his flamethrower at it. He unleashed a torrent of flames, but the Beartic dodged out of the way.

As the Beartic was recovering from its dive, Taraka seized the opportunity to get an attack in. “Blaze, Flame Wheel!” the monk commanded his Pokemon. The Ponyta charged at the ice bear, coated over in flames, and dealt a decisive hit. Taraka then immediately recalled his Pokemon, as he was in pretty rough shape. After placing the ball back on his belt, Taraka threw up a psionic barrier to protect himself, his crewmate, and their Pokemon.

It was not a moment too soon, as the Beartic took a swing at Ritsu with one of its large paws. The barrier softened the blow, leaving the Charmander with only minor injuries. Ritsu spit out one last jet of flame at her assailant before Axel recalled her. Unfortunately, the Beartic once again dodged out of the way.

As Axel swapped out to his Growlithe, Taraka took the time to throw up another barrier before sending out his next Pokemon as well. “Spooperz, Shadow Sneak,” the monk commanded his Shuppet as she emerged from her ball. The ghostly Pokemon floated over to the Beartic, and maneuvered around its flailing arms to land a hit. The Beartic retaliated by swatting the Shuppet away with a fistful of icicles, dealing a nasty blow.

While the Beartic was distracted by Taraka’s Shuppet, Axel ran up to it and punched it with all his strength, catching it off guard. “Nodoka, Ember!” the mercenary commanded his Growlithe while the Pokemon was still reeling from the hit. His own Pokemon spit out a surge of flames, nearly taking the Beartic down.

The ice bear managed to endure the hit, but it was left completely open. Seizing the opportunity, Taraka threw a Pokeball at the Beartic. The ball made contact and pulled the Pokemon inside. It fell to the ground, then shook once … twice … three times … then it fell still.

With the Beartic dealt with, Axel turned to look at the Alakazam. The Pokemon, which was now standing up, locked eyes with the mercenary. It seemed that they had caught its attention. The Psi Pokemon jumped down from its perch upon the rock, spoons raised and ready for combat.

“Spooperz, use Night Shade!” Taraka commanded his Pokemon. The Shuppet blasted the Alakazam with ghostly energy, dealing a strong hit before the onslaught of hail knocked her out. With the monk’s Pokemon out of the way, the Alakazam teleported across the clearing, then blasted Axel’s Growlithe with psychic energy. Fortunately, Taraka’s psionic barrier managed to protect it from the brunt of the damage, allowing her to keep fighting.

“Nodoka, use Bite!” Axel ordered his Pokemon in response. The Growlithe charged at the Alakazam and leapt at it, but the Psi Pokemon pushed it away with its telekinetic abilities.

Luckily, it was enough distraction to buy Taraka the time to send out his next Pokemon. “Roma, use Shadow Punch!” the monk commanded his Tangrowth as she emerged from her ball. The Vine Pokemon extended out one of her vine arms, glowing with a ghostly energy, and struck the Alakazam, dealing a decisive hit.

Reeling from the hit, the Alakazam fired off a beam of ice that went wide, forming a jagged line of icicles along the ground. While it was recovering from the hit, Axel lobbed a Pokeball at the Alakazam, catching it instantly.

“Whew, that was exciting,” Axel said, laughing as he walked over to claim his prize.

“A bit dangerous, if you asked me,” Taraka replied, picking up the ball that now housed his new Beartic.

“We had it under control,” Axel said, laughing again. “Now whad’ya say we head back to the ship? Doesn’t look like this hail is planning on letting up anytime soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took me far too long to finish. After churning out 7 chapters in a short timespan, I decided to take a bit of a break from writing as I had a good backlog of chapters to sustain my weekly posting for a good while. Unfortunately, I got complacent and didn’t keep writing. As a result, I ended up needing to take a week off from posting to get it done. It’s not like it was an important chapter either.
> 
> Moving on to the actual substance of the chapter, here we have the rest of the fourth session. Ace's player wasn’t really happy with his character build, so he swapped out his Marksman class for the Fortress class. As a result, he needed new weapons to fit the build, hence the energy shield and laser sword. That’s the actual reason the crew went to Crion, a planet I hadn’t even established as Rooker’s base of operations at the time, but since I’m writing these chapters months after the sessions take place, I’m able to include details that are established later. While they were there, Taraka's player also wanted to pick up a bo staff, and I didn’t see a reason why he couldn’t, so there’s that.
> 
> Then Ace's player needed to leave so Axel's player and Taraka's player just went looking for Pokemon. Axel's player rolled a 4 to search for Pokemon, so I threw some good high level shit at them. Taraka's player wanted bear Pokemon, so I threw a Beartic in because it made sense on an ice planet, and since it was a taiga planet as well, Abomasnow was a perfect choice. The custom ice shifted Alakazam I added just because I could, and Alakazam was on Axel’s player's wish list. Really, the only other thing of note was that Axel's player crit Rock Smashed the Beartic.


	9. Barnyard Brawl

Captain Cyrus Drake of the _UAS Maverick_ sat in his quarters, trying to plan out his next move. With half the ship’s crew still out shopping for supplies in the shops of the Crion spaceport or exploring the planet, he finally had the time — not to mention the peace and quiet — to think. With both Rooker and the Federation after the Alliance ship captain and his crew, it was only a matter of time before they closed in on them. Things were going to get bad if they didn’t do something soon.

 _We can’t keep going on like this_ , Cyrus thought to himself. _We’re likely to wind up dead if we can’t figure a way out of this mess_. As it stood right now, the _Maverick_ ’s crew didn’t have a chance at taking on Rooker head on, and with the ship stuck in Sector 32, there wasn’t much they could do to prepare or acquire some kind of help.

 _If only we could get the Federation off our backs_. Cyrus racked his brain, trying to think of anything that he might have overlooked, some way to tip the odds in his favor. That’s when an idea came to him, a way to solve his little problem.

_I know who can help us ..._

* * *

As soon as all her crew had returned, the _UAS Maverick_ departed from Crion with a sense of haste and urgency. “Where are we headed now?” Axel asked as he joined up with the rest of the crew at the front of the ship.

“Malina,” Cyrus answered.

“What for?” Axel asked. “Isn’t it all just ranches and farms there?”

“Well, yes,” the captain replied. “But it also happens to be the location of Sector 32’s Pokemon gym.”

“Wouldn’t that make it a place we should avoid?” Taraka asked. “The Federation isn’t particularly happy with us at the moment.”

“Normally, I’d be inclined to agree with you,” Cyrus told the Sinai monk. “But the gym leader is an old friend of mine. I think she might be able to help us work something out with the Federation. I’m not sure what she’ll be able to do, but it’s worth a shot.”

Axel wasn’t particularly thrilled with this idea. “And what if she just turns us over to the Federation?” the mercenary asked.

“We won’t need to worry about that. Darlene and I go way back … and she owes me a few favors. Besides … you all could do with a gym fight if we’re going to be going up against Rooker in the near future. Your Pokemon need some toughening up.”

Axel scowled. “You sayin’ that Ritsu ain’t tough?”

Cyrus laughed. “Of course not. Your Charmander is pretty impressive, but it is still a Charmander after all.”

“Fair enough,” Axel conceded. “Alright, let’s see how tough this Darlene is,” the mercenary added, cracking his knuckles. He then turned to his crewmates. “Whad’ya say we get some training in before we challenge this gym?”

Ace nodded. “I like the sound of that.”

* * *

“Ritsu, use Ember!”

“Teleport out, Blade!” Ace ordered his Ralts as Axel’s Charmander spit out a tide of flames at the Pokemon. Blade blipped to the opposite end of the _Maverick_ ’s cargo hold as the spot he had been standing was engulfed by fire.

“Ritsu, after him!” Axel ordered his Pokemon.

“Now, Confusion!” Ace commanded Blade as Ritsu sprinted across the cargo hold to get in range. The Ralts blasted the pursuing Charmander with psychic energy, bringing her down.

“Not bad, Ace,” Axel said as he recalled his Pokemon. “Ya finally won one.”

Were he capable of smiling, that would have been the android’s response to the compliment he had just received. “Thank you,” he said. “Blade and I have been working hard.”

“Well it shows,” the mercenary replied. “Now whad’ya say we go another round? Let’s see if that victory was just a fluke or not.”

Ace nodded. “I can assure you that it wasn’t.”

“Ha. Maybe I won’t go so easy on you this time.” Axel laughed as he released his Gastly.

The two went for another bout, and once again, Ace and Blade emerged victorious, barely edging out Axel and his Pokemon. As his Ralts delivered the final blow with another Confusion, Ace watched as his Pokemon companion began to glow. Once the near-blinding light died down, the android was able to see Blade’s new form.

“Congrats, bud,” Axel said, slapping his crewmate hard on the back. “Your new Kirlia will certainly help us out in the gym fight.”

While he knew that was true, and it was certainly a good thing, Ace was mostly just happy to see his Pokemon grow. Even though Blade had only been his Pokemon for a short time, Ace felt a strong bond with him. Ace nodded at his Human crewmate. “I’m looking forward to it.”

* * *

“We’ll be touching down in five,” the captain’s voice sounded over the _Maverick_ ’s comms as the ship dropped out of warp space in the Vana system on approach to Malina, the location of Sector 32’s Pokemon gym.

Axel gazed out the front viewport as he joined Cyrus and Anya in the cockpit. He had never been to the planet before, nor had he any reason to. The Alliance mercenary had never been particularly interested in the Outer Rim Gym League Challenge, and Malina’s gym was about the only reason anyone would visit the planet.

As far as Axel was concerned, the gym leaders weren’t all they were cracked up to be, and he felt that they imposed all these unnecessary constraints on Pokemon battles that one would never find in a real life scenario. He did suppose the captain was right about one thing though; battling against a strong trainer would help them prepare for confronting Rooker.

“So, you really think this Darlene can help us?” Axel asked, glancing over at his employer as the _Maverick_ broke through Malina’s atmosphere.

“Of course,” Cyrus replied. “I wouldn’t have brought us here if I didn’t think so.”

“How do you know each other anyway?”

“Like I said, we go way back. I ran a bunch of jobs for her back in the day. Mostly transporting cattle … Tauros, Miltank, sometimes even Bouffalant.”

“What’s she like anyway?”

“Oh she’s a real sweetheart,” the captain said, patting Axel on the shoulder. “So definitely not your type,” he added with a laugh.

“Yeah, whatever you say.”

A few moments later, the ship was touching down at Malina’s single spaceport. After the captain paid the docking fee, Axel joined up with him, as well as Taraka and Ace, and they caught a shuttle out to the Pokemon gym, which also doubled as Darlene’s ranch.

“What kind of Pokemon do they use at this gym?” Taraka inquired as the group approached the ranch.

“That’s for you to find out,” Cyrus told the monk.

“I wanna say Normal,” Axel offered, eyeing the corrals full of Tauros and Miltank.

As they drew nearer, the figure of a woman, silhouetted by the bright sunlight bearing down on the flat plains of Malina, appeared from around the side of the large barn. “Cyrus Drake, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” she spoke in a chipper tone of voice, her Alliance Outer Colony accent quite apparent.

“Hello, Darlene,” the captain replied.

As the Sector 32 gym leader stepped into the shade cast by the barn, Axel was able to get a better look at her. She was an attractive woman, probably a few years older than he was, with long and wavy auburn hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a faded denim shirt, a pair of dirt stained jeans, some well-worn work boots, and a floppy brown cowboy hat. Axel would have been lying if he didn’t find her attractive, but he thought he detected some history between this woman and his boss, so he opted not to make a move, as he was prone to do when meeting an attractive woman.

“Well, what can I do ya for, hun?” Darlene asked, approaching the _Maverick_ crew.

“I was hoping you could help us out with a little problem,” Cyrus answered.

Darlene laughed. “A little problem? I heard you’ve gone and got yerself in a big ol’ pile o’ trouble again.”

“I take it you’ve heard about our situation, then?”

“Course I have, hun. I am the gym leader for this sector after all.”

“Well, I can assure you what they say isn’t true. It was a simple cargo mix-up.”

“I believe you. I certainly didn’t believe you were smugglin’ no spice … but it’ll take a bit more to convince the Federation.”

“What if I told you we figured out who’s spice it was?”

“Well, then maybe I’d be able to pull some strings with the Federation. So, go on then, hun. Who’s is it?”

“Anton Rooker.”

“Hmm.” Judging from her facial expression, Axel could tell Darlene recognized the name. “Course you would’a gone an’ got mixed up with a man like that,” she finally said after a while.

“Well is wasn’t exactly our fault,” Axel cut in.

“Now, now, Axel,” Cyrus said. “I think she knows that.”

Darlene just cracked a smile. She didn’t seem to mind the interruption. “I can certainly say this much, the Federation ain’t exactly fond of Rooker … I think I _might_ be able to get them off your back if you can help get rid of that vile man.”

The captain laughed. “Well, he was already after us … A confrontation was inevitable. Thanks for your help, Darlene.”

“Anytime, hun,” the gym leader said, giving the captain a wink.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Cyrus said. “How about you whip the boys here into shape with a gym battle.” He motioned toward Axel and the rest of the crew.

“I’d be delighted,” Darlene replied. “Let’s see how they stack up to your previous crew. You know where the arena is; I’ll meet y’all there in a few minutes.”

* * *

Waves rippled through the blades of grass as the _Maverick_ crew assembled in the gym arena, which in this case was a fenced off rectangular plot of grass with the classic Pokeball-motif design of the Outer Rim Gym League at its center. “Alright, let’s see what y’all are made of,” Darlene said as she stepped into the designated trainer area on her side of the arena.

On the other side, Axel, Taraka, and Ace stepped forward as well. “You’re not joining us, captain?” Ace asked, looking back at Cyrus.

The _Maverick_ ’s captain smirked and folded back the flap of his coat. “I’ve already got this badge,” he said, pointing to a handful of badges that signified victory in the Gym League.

“Fine, don’t help us then,” Axel said, turning his attention back to the gym leader.

“You’ll do fine,” Cyrus told his crew.

“I’m sure we will,” Axel said as he pulled out a Pokeball. “You’re up, Ryner!” He tossed the ball out, releasing the Alakazam he captured back on Crion. His two crewmates followed suit, Taraka sending out his giant Tangrowth, and Ace sending out his recently evolved Kirlia.

“Alright, boys, bring it on,” Darlene said as she tossed two Pokeballs up into the air. The balls landed on the ground, and out popped a Tauros and a Miltank. “Bodie, Elsie, show ‘em what your made of!” The Miltank hung back while the Tauros trotted forward. “Alright, Bodie, lead of with Horn Attack! Strike that Alakazam hard!” The Tauros charged forward, plowing right into Ryner, landing a powerful blow with one of its large horns.

“We need to do something about those powerful hits,” Taraka said to his crewmates.

“Right,” Axel agreed. “Ryner, use Reflect!” The mercenary’s Pokemon backed up slightly from the Tauros and threw up a psionic barrier to protect himself and the other two Pokemon on his side of the field.

“Blade, Confusion,” Ace then commanded his Kirlia. “Hit that Tauros.” The Pokemon moved up a bit then blasted the Tauros with psychic energy. However, it didn’t appear to do to much to the Pokemon.

“You’re up next, Elsie!” Darlene shouted. “Hit that Tangrowth with Body Slam!” Her Miltank rushed forward and dove at Roma, bowling her over. Normally, Taraka’s Pokemon was immune to such attacks thanks to whatever ghostly energy had been present where she had been captured, but Darlene’s Miltank was a scrappy fighter. It seemed the gym leader was prepared for a variety of different tactics challengers might employ.

“Roma, get yourself up and use Mega Drain!” Taraka commanded his Tangrowth. Unfortunately, the monk’s Pokemon was left stunned from the powerful hit she took and was unable to move.

“Bodie, Rock Slide!” Darlene ordered her Tauros. The Pokemon reared up, then stomped down hard, kicking up several large rocks, which it then launched at the _Maverick_ crew’s Pokemon. The blast of rocks pelted both Roma and Blade. Fortunately, Ryner was able to dodge the incoming assault. It was a good thing too, because both the Tangrowth and the Kirlia were left immobilized by the powerful hit.

Quickly assessing the field, Axel knew that things weren’t going to go well if they didn’t do something about that Tauros soon. “Ryner, use Ice Beam!” he commanded his Pokemon. “Hit that Tauros with all you’ve got!” The Alakazam crossed his spoons and built up energy, summoning forth a stream of freezing energy. The hit struck dead on, dealing a decisive blow. “Now, follow up with Psybeam!” Before the Tauros could recover, it was struck by a beam of psychic energy from the Alakazam.

“Bodie, move back and Work Up!” Darlene commanded. “Elsie, keep him covered! Strike that Alakazam with Rollout!” As her Tauros retreated to build up strength, the gym leader’s Miltank rolled into a ball and launched itself at Axel’s Pokemon. As the Miltank plowed toward him, Ryner redirected its path with a telekinetic push, keeping himself from harm.

“Now, Bodie! Horn Attack!”

“It was a distraction!” Axel exclaimed, realizing what Darlene’s tactic had been as her Tauros charged toward his Pokemon.

“Not so fast!” Ace shouted. “Blade, Confusion!” Diving back into the fray, the android’s Kirlia blasted the charging Tauros with psychic energy, bringing it down just before it could land what would have undoubtedly been a devastating hit.

“Roma, your turn,” Taraka encouraged his Pokemon. “Use Mega Drain!” Unfortunately, the Tangrowth was still immobilized and unable to move.

“Elsie, Rollout again!” Darlene commanded her Miltank as she recalled her fainted Tauros. Her Pokemon rolled back into a ball and came at Axel’s Alakazam from the other direction.

“Quick, dodge it, Ryner!” Axel warned his Pokemon. Just before the moment of impact, Ryner stepped to the side, and the Miltank rolled right past. “Now, Psybeam!” The Alakazam fired a beam of psychic energy at the Miltank as it passed him, landing the first good hit on the Pokemon.

While the two Pokemon were engaged, Ace took the opportunity to heal his Kirlia with a potion before Darlene sent out her next Pokemon. The gym leader tossed out another Pokeball, releasing a Snorlax wearing a giant cowboy hat. Were he not focused on the battle, Axel would have taken the time to appreciate how awesome the Pokemon looked wearing the hat.

“You’re up, Pudgie!” Darlene said to her Pokemon. “Get in there an’ hit ‘em with an Earthquake!” Her Snorlax plowed right into the fray and stomped down hard, causing the ground to shake. Fortunately all three of the _Maverick_ crew’s Pokemon managed to dive out of the way of the shockwave of rocks and earth.

From across the arena, Axel could see an annoyed expression on Darlene’s face, but she was quick to rethink her strategy. “Elsie, Rollout again!” Rolling up and charging at Ryner again, the Miltank finally managed to land a hit on the Alakazam.

“You can do it, Roma,” Taraka continued to encourage his Tangrowth. “Mega Drain that Snorlax.” Finally, the monk’s Pokemon was able to do something, draining some energy out of the Snorlax to revitalize herself.

“Blade, Confusion on that Miltank,” Ace commanded his Kirlia. Blade kept his distance, landing a hit on the Miltank, starting to whittle it down further.

“Ryner, use Ice Beam!” On his trainer’s command, the Alakazam fired off another beam of freezing energy, striking the Miltank. Unfortunately, the fatty bovine Pokemon seemed to resist the cold.

“Rollout again!” Darlene commanded. “Take out that Alakazam, Elsie!”

“Ryner, protect yourself with your barrier!” Axel ordered his Pokemon as the Miltank rolled right at him. Ryner focused his psychic barrier right in front of himself, slowing his attacker down and lessening the impact. It was a sound strategy, but Axel didn’t see what happened next coming.

“Pudgie, follow up with Body Slam and take it down!” Darlene’s snorlax dove at Axel’s Alakazam, crushing him with its large body and bringing him down.

“Damn it,” Axel cursed as he recalled his fainted Pokemon and switched to his Gastly.

“Roma, Mega Drain again!” Taraka commanded his Tangrowth. Still not back to one-hundred percent, the Sinai monk’s Pokemon failed to act upon the orders her trainer gave her.

“Blade, Disarming Voice,” Ace commanded. His Kirlia moved in between Darlene’s Pokemon and let out a sonic pulse that did a bit of damage to both.

“Scion, use Hypnosis!” Axel ordered his newly released Pokemon. “Take that Miltank out of commission for a while!” The Gastly flew over to the Miltank and released a hypnotic beam from his eyes, putting it to sleep. Axel breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the Pokemon was out of their hair, at least for a little while.

“Roma, use Mega Drain,” Taraka commanded his Pokemon. This time, the Tangrowth was able to get her attack off, draining a little more energy away from the Snorlax.

Darlene, however, didn’t seem to view the Tangrowth as a priority. “Pudgie, Body Slam that Kirlia!” she commanded her Snorlax. The large Pokemon leapt at Ace’s Pokemon, but the remnant of Ryner’s psychic barrier softened the impact. The weight of the Snorlax was enough to deliver a heavy blow, but the barrier was enough to keep Blade up.

“Fall back for now, Blade,” Ace ordered his Kirlia once the Snorlax got up, and the Pokemon retreated toward him to get healed again.

Axel, meanwhile, was planning his next action. At that moment, it occurred to the mercenary that Gastly may not have been the best choice. The Pokemon was good for putting the Miltank to sleep, but it really couldn’t do anything else as it only knew ghost type moves. “Scion, just hit that Snorlax!” Axel commanded the Pokemon. It was about all he could do.

The gaseous ghost Pokemon flew up to the Snorlax and crashed into it, but the attack didn’t seem to do much. “Well that didn’t do anything,” Axel grumbled. “You don’t happen to have any more Pokemon left, do you?!” the mercenary then called across the field.

“That’s for you to find out, hun!” the gym leader called back to him. “Now, let’s get ‘em Elsie!” Darlene’s shouting seemed to do the trick, as her Miltank awoke and picked itself up. “Use Retaliate! Take down that Kirlia!” As Blade was moving back into the fray, the Miltank charged at him and knocked him out. “Your turn, Pudgie! Use Rest and regain your energy!” Darlene’s Snorlax dropped backwards onto its back and dozed off.

“Roma, Mega Drain again!” Taraka then commanded his Pokemon. The Tangrowth, however, was once again immobilized. “Oh, enough of this!” the monk shouted, sounding surprisingly annoyed. He then ran up to his Pokemon and administered a paralyze heal.

Ace, meanwhile, had recalled his Kirlia and swapped to his Ponyta. “Flare, Flame Wheel,” he commanded his newly released Pokemon. “Target that Miltank.” The Ponyta charged forward, coated over with flames, and slammed into the Miltank, whittling it down a little more.

Darlene didn’t seem to think the new combatant was much of a threat and instead focused on Axel’s Gastly. The mercenary assumed it was because she didn’t want it to put her Miltank back to sleep while her Snorlax was resting. “Elsie, Body Slam that Gastly!” Being a ghost type didn’t do Scion much good, as the scrappy Miltank was able to land the hit and take him down.

“Time for the big guns,” Axel said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. He then pulled out his Charmander’s ball and released her onto the field. “Ritsu, use Ember!” The Charmander spit out a jet of flames as she emerged, but, unfortunately, she wasn’t able to land the attack. The good news was that it had been a good distraction, and Ace seized the opportunity to have his Ponyta land another hit.

“Roma, use Mega Drain,” Taraka then commanded his Tangrowth. The large viney Pokemon moved up to drain energy from Darlene’s Miltank but nothing seemed to happen.

“Nice try, hun, but grass type moves don’t work on Miltank!” the gym leader teased from across the field. “Now it’s our turn! Elsie, use Stomp!” Running up to Roma, the Miltank delivered a strong kick, proving more effective than the Tangrowth’s attack.

“Flare, Ember that Miltank,” Ace then commanded his Pokemon. The Ponyta spit out a jet of flame, landing a good hit on the Miltank, which was finally showing signs of wearing down.

It was then that Darlene’s Snorlax awakened from its rest. “Look out, Ritsu!” Axel warned his Charmander, which was standing nearby, as the large Pokemon got to its feet. “Move out of there and use Ember on that Miltank!”

“Don’t let it escape, Pudgie!” Darlene called out in response. Her Snorlax took a swing at Ritsu with one of its large arms, but the smaller and more nimble Charmander was able to jump out of the way.

Ritsu then spit out a massive surge of flames, delivering a powerful blow to the Miltank. As the torrent of fire continued, Darlene’s Snorlax moved in and absorbed some of it with its fatty body. While the large Pokemon was distracted, Taraka took advantage and commanded his Tangrowth to drain some of its energy away.

“Elsie, take care of that Tangrowth!” Darlene ordered her Miltank in response. “Use Retaliate!” Her Pokemon charged at Roma and plowed right into her, dealing a pretty strong blow. “Now it’s your turn, Pudgie! Body Slam that Charmander!”

“Roma, hit it before it can get away!” Taraka shouted to his Tangrowth in response. As the Snorlax moved back, the vine Pokemon swiped at it with one of her vine arms, but she only succeeded in knocking its hat off. For a Pokemon of its size, the Snorlax was surprisingly quick. Ritsu, however, was quicker. As Darlene’s Pokemon dove at her, the Charmander hopped backwards, avoiding the hit.

“Flare, Ember!”

“Ritsu, use Ember!”

Heeding their trainer’s commands, Ace’s Ponyta and Axel’s Charmander unleashed a dual stream of flames at Darlene’s Miltank, doing some pretty significant damage to it. “Finally, we’re getting somewhere!” Axel shouted.

“Not so fast, boys,” Darlene responded. “Elsie, use Milk Drink!”

“Damn it!” Axel cursed as the Miltank healed itself up with its milk.

“We just need to keep whittling them down,” Taraka encouraged his crewmate. The monk then shifted focus back to his own Pokemon. “Roma, keep draining that Snorlax!”

The energy drained was insignificant enough that Darlene didn’t pay much mind. “Pudgie, use Yawn on that Charmander!” Her Snorlax opened its mouth wide in a yawn, causing Axel’s Pokemon to become drowsy. The fire lizard Pokemon was only able to get off one more fiery attack alongside Ace’s Ponyta before succumbing to sleep.

Taraka, meanwhile, had his Tangrowth go after the Snorlax. Being both a ghost type and a grass type, there really wasn’t anything the monk’s Pokemon could do to the Miltank. “Roma, keep draining that Snorlax!”

“Elsie, Stomp that Tangrowth!” Darlene called out in response. “Keep it off Pudgie! Pudgie, you target that Ponyta! Use Facade!” The gym leader’s Miltank delivered another kick to Roma, counteracting the energy draining she had been doing, while her Snorlax landed a powerful hit on Flare, injuring the Ponyta.

“Flare, fall back and Ember,” Ace commanded his Pokemon in response to the attack. The Ponyta backed away and spit fire at the Miltank, and then, once the attack made contact, Ace recalled him and sent his Kirlia, which had been healed with a revive, back out.

The four active Pokemon on the field continued to trade blows, slowly whittling each other down. All the while, Axel’s Charmander remained asleep. “C’mon, Ritsu! Wake up already!” The mercenary shouted encouragement at his Pokemon.

As Ace’s Kirlia dodged a powerful swing from one of the Snorlax’s arms, the large Pokemon stumbled forward, hitting the sleeping Ritsu instead and waking her up. “Finally!” Axel exclaimed in relief. While his Pokemon had taken a good hit, he knew she could hang in there and win the fight. “Alright, Ritsu, use Ember on that Miltank!” The Charmander spit out a surge of flames, and the Miltank finally seemed close to going down.

“Finish it with Confusion!” Ace ordered his Kirlia. The android’s Pokemon let loose a blast of psychic energy, taking the Miltank out of the picture at last.

“Now, focus on that Snorlax!” Axel shouted. “We’ve got this one in the bag!”

“Right,” Taraka agreed. “Roma, you know what to do!” The Monk’s Tangrowth continued on with the strategy he had been having her employ for most of the battle, draining away more of the Snorlax’s energy.

The large Pokemon was clearly close to going down, as it gulped down a berry it had been holding to regain some of its stamina. “Hang in there, Pudgie!” Darlene encouraged her Pokemon. “Use Facade and take out that Charmander!”

“Dodge it, Ritsu, then use Ember!” The small and nimble fire lizard jumped back, avoiding the incoming attack, then returned fire, bringing it close to the brink.

“Finish it with Mega Drain!” Taraka commanded his Tangrowth. As Roma drained away the last of its energy, the Snorlax collapsed.

“Well, I’ve gotta say, y’all are some pretty tough trainers,” Darlene said as she recalled her Pokemon. “That was one heck of a batlle.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Axel grumbled. “That wasn’t exactly a fair fight.”

“I didn’t say it was going to be easy,” Darlene replied. “But y’all won, didn’t you?”

“She does have a point,” Taraka agreed.

“Now then, as the Sector 32 gym leader, I present you with the Planet Badge … and, of course, here is your prize money.”

* * *

Captain Cyrus Drake of the _UAS Maverick_ stepped back aboard his ship in high spirits. Things were finally starting to look up. While his crew had returned to the ship a few hours ago, the captain had stayed behind to work out an arrangement with Darlene and the Federation.

“Good news, everyone,” Cyrus announced, finding the crew lounging around in the living quarters. “We’ve got the Federation off our backs finally.”

“Too bad there’s still a bunch of smugglers who want to kill us,” Axel replied.

“But now they’re the only thing we have to worry about,” Cyrus responded. “It’s not ideal since this whole mess wasn’t our fault, but as long as we deal with Rooker then we’re off scot free.”

“We shouldn’t even have to deal with him,” Erik pointed out.

“Yeah, I know, but you know how the Federation is. It could have been worse, though. If it wasn’t for Darlene we’d still be screwed. So, here’s the deal. We’re now free to travel to any sector again, so we should have an easier time preparing for the confrontation … and I already got us another job.”

“Oh, yeah?” Axel asked. The mercenary seemed excited by the prospect of making some more money. “What’s the job?”

“Nothing too bad. We just need to transport some Tauros for Darlene. She’s got a buyer on Attica in Sector 5. Once they’re delivered to the ship, we can finally get out of this sector for a while. In the meantime, I think we can take a well earned rest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! First gym battle! Too bad I forgot to record the beginning of the session, so the first two and a half rounds didn’t get recorded. As soon as I realized I had forgotten, I did my best to recap what had happened so far for the benefit of my future self, but not all the details got preserved. In the writing, I made up some details, and got it to all flow nicely.
> 
> The first few intro scenes are things I added specifically for the writing that didn’t happen in game, just to better set up narratively why they went to the gym, plus Ace’s Ralts had evolved, but I guess discussion of it had taken place after the previous session’s recordings were done, so it hadn’t made it into the writing. I just added a little training scene so it wasn’t just abruptly a Kirlia, plus I’ve been adding this narrative point to the writing where Ace has been training with his crewmates to learn about battling.
> 
> Moving onto the battle itself, this was the saltiest I’ve ever seen this party. Even where we are in the campaign as of the time of this writing, about 30 sessions after this one, they’ve never been as salty. The funny part was, that it wasn’t even that bad. They got annoyed with so many things, from Miltank staying up so long to it having Sap Sipper to I don’t even know what. Plus they used Ghost types a lot, which, while immune to Normal (except not Miltank, because Scrappy), mostly only knew Ghost moves, which Normal is immune to. And with Sap Sipper, Tangrowth was worthless against Miltank. Both Miltank and Snorlax had Thick Fat too, but they kept using Ice and Fire, so it was just taking so long. The funny part was that they knew going in that it was going to be a Normal gym (that’s not how I framed it narratively here, but I did tell them out of character), and they had been to Meridian a few times, a generated planet with Fighting types. And I reminded them before the fight that they could go back and get Fighting types, and they declined! Axel's player saying he wanted to attack the gym leader after the fight was so unwarranted. Luckily, we ended right after the prize money was given and then he missed the next session, which, incidentally, I also forgot to record the beginning of. I just took a few bits from the end of session 6’s recording and injected in some details to make up for the recording starting late just to make the chapter end nicely.


	10. Tauros Transporters

The sun was shining brightly as Taraka made his way across the plains of Malina. Having just picked up some Pokeballs at a shop in the planet’s spaceport, the Sinai monk was out searching for Pokemon on the unsettled part of the Outer Rim world. The captain was busy overseeing the delivery of Darlene’s Tauros to the _Maverick_ and Taraka’s other crewmates hadn’t been particularly interested in searching for Pokemon on Malina, so on this fine day, the monk was traveling alone. As much as he enjoyed the company of his crewmates, the peace and quiet of enjoying nature on his own was a pleasant change of pace.

It had been a few hours since Taraka had departed and he hadn’t seen any other Pokemon around yet. He didn’t mind too much, as the walk across the plains was still enjoyable. As he continued on, Taraka crested a hill and got a view of a large herd of Bouffalant grazing. “Perhaps I will capture one of them,” the monk said to himself as he made his way down the slope toward the herd.

Spotting one of the Pokemon grazing a ways away from the others, Taraka released his Togetic and cautiously approached it. The Bouffalant didn’t appear to notice them coming, so Taraka inched his way forward so as not to alarm it. Finally catching sight of the monk and his Pokemon, the Bouffalant eyed the newcomers suspiciously as it continued to graze.

Once Taraka had moved close enough, the Bouffalant stopped eating and concentrated all its focus on him. Moving closer, Taraka decided to try speaking to it. “So, you seem to have broken off from the herd.,” the monk said. “I don’t know if you just don’t like them or they’re jerks, but there’s always room on this team.”

The Bouffalant, for its part, didn’t show any visible response. “Of course you can’t understand me,” Taraka mumbled. “Why did I think that would work?” Despite not being able to communicate with the Pokemon particularly well, the monk had a good feeling about it, and decided to reach out in attempt to pet it.

The Pokemon appeared to not see Taraka as much of a threat, because it cautiously allowed the monk to pet it. Taraka got a feeling that this Bouffalant had seen plenty of other Humans before, so he tried showing it a Pokeball. “Want to get in the ball?” he asked, knowing that the Pokemon probably had no idea what he was trying to convey.

Taraka attempted to motion the Pokemon to go with him, but all he managed to do was elicit a snort from it. The monk made the hand gestures again, and the Bouffalant turned away. “Hey, don’t you look away from me,” Taraka ordered the Pokemon, attempting to assert his dominance over it. Hefting his metal staff up, the monk bashed the Bouffalant over the head. Unsurprisingly, the staff simply bounced off of its large afro.

“Get in the ball,” Taraka said, reaching out to press the Pokeball in his hand against the Pokemon. The Bouffalant snorted angrily and reared its head at Taraka, bashing him with one of its large horns, knocking him back a ways.

“I guess we need to do this the old fashioned way,” Taraka decided. “Sirius, use Charm!” The monk’s Pokemon flew between her trainer and the Bouffalant and began flapping her wings to charm it. At the very least, she was able to distract the Bouffalant long enough for Taraka to throw up a psionic barrier. “Now, Sweet Kiss!”

The second attack seemed to distract the Bouffalant for another moment, but the Bash Buffalo Pokemon quickly snapped out of it, and thrashed its head at the Togetic, slightly grazing it with one of its horns.

“I’d prefer not to fight you,” Taraka told the Bouffalant, even though he knew it couldn’t understand him. “Sirus, use Yawn!” The monk’s Togetic yawned, and the Bouffalant appeared to be getting drowsy. The Pokemon started to charge at Taraka, but sleep overcame it and it veered off to the side and collapsed.

“And now for the capture.” Tarka pulled out a great ball and lobbed it at the Bouffalant. The Pokemon was immediately pulled inside, and the ball fell still. “That wasn’t so bad,” the monk said, letting out a sigh.

Taraka walked over and collected his prize, then turned back toward the direction from which he had come. He’d had enough adventuring for one day. Besides, the Tauros were probably loaded up on the _Maverick_ by now.

* * *

“That’s the last of them,” Cyrus said as he hitched the final Tauros in the _Maverick_ ’s cargo hold. The captain breathed out a relieved sigh. Darlene’s cattle were well-behaved, but getting them all into the cargo hold had been a hassle. He had to carefully plan how to load them onto the ship in order to fit them all and be able to securely hitch them.

“Glad that’s over with,” Axel said, wiping some sweat from his brow. Cyrus wasn’t used to seeing the mercenary sweat, as he had observed that he liked the heat.

Just as the captain was about to close the cargo bay doors, he saw Taraka walking aboard. The Sinai monk looked a bit beat up, but he appeared to be in a good mood. “What happened to you?” Cyrus asked.

“I had a run in with a Bouffalant,” Taraka explained. “But I captured it, so it was a good venture.”

“Well that’s good,” Cyrus said, chuckling.

“Indeed,” the monk agreed. “Do you need anything at the moment, Captain?” he then asked. “Help with the Tauros?”

“No, we’re all set,” Cyrus said. “Go get yourself cleaned up, and get yourself some rest while you’re at it.”

Taraka nodded and took his leave, heading off to the med bay. Cyrus then reached for the comms. “Anya, prepare for takeoff,” he transmitted to the cockpit. “Set course for the Sector 32 warp gate.”

* * *

All was calm as the _Maverick_ dropped out of warp space near the Sector 32 warp gate. Captain Cyrus Drake sat in the cockpit with his pilot, gazing out into space. There wasn’t much to see aside from the gate, but it was a convenient stretch of space to get to from most systems in the sector.

Suddenly, the whole ship rocked as something impacted against the shields. “Captain, incoming laser fire!” Anya shouted.

“Evasive action!” Cyrus ordered. He then leapt to his feet and moved to the weapon controls in the next room. He was soon joined by both Taraka and Ace, running in from the living quarters.

“What is happening?!” Ace asked.

“We’re under attack!” Cyrus explained. “Ace, man those guns! Taraka, get to the cargo hold and make sure the Tauros don’t start rampaging!” Taraka nodded and departed, while Ace took control of the ion cannons.

Cyrus, meanwhile, manned the controls for the photon cannons. “Looks like pirates!” the captain shouted as he took aim at the vessel that was firing on them. It was an Alliance-make frigate that had all the makings of a pirate vessel. “I bet they’re Rooker’s men!” He then fired off a volley of lasers, peppering the frigate’s shields. Ace unloaded with his guns as well, landing a few hits of his own.

As the attacking ship fired off another pair of shots at the _Maverick_ , Anya rolled the ship, avoiding the first hit. The second one found its mark, causing the ship to shake again, but the shields held. The _Maverick_ leveled out and Cyrus lined up a shot on the pursuing ship’s engines. He opened fire, landing a glancing blow on the shields. Ace followed up with a volley of his own, peppering the shields again.

“Focus fire on the engines!” Cyrus shouted to Ace. “If we can slow them down enough, we can slip away!”

“Got it!” the android acknowledged as another volley came at the _Maverick_. Once again, the ship rolled as Anya dodged the incoming fire. One more shot landed, though, and the shields ruptured. Fortunately, they were almost to the gate.

“Punch it, Anya!” Cyrus shouted.

“I’m going as fast as I can!” the pilot responded.

Ace opened fire on their pursuers, continuing to target the engines. The sustained ion cannon fire disrupted a large window in the shields, giving the captain the opening he needed. Firing as fast as the photon cannons would allow, Cyrus unleashed a stream of laser fire that bombarded the exposed engine. There was a large explosion as the engines detonated, leaving the ship crippled.

“Go! Go! Go!” Ace shouted as the _Maverick_ broke away from the disabled frigate.

As the hostile ship fired after them, Anya rolled the ship again, evading the shots completely. A moment later, the _Maverick_ reached the gate and jumped away. Cyrus breathed a sigh of relief as the ship escaped to the safety of warp space. It was a short-lived feeling of comfort however, as the captain remembered the Tauros.

“Oh, crap! The cattle!” Cyrus shouted before bolting for the cargo hold.

* * *

Taraka ran into the cargo hold to find the Tauros were quite agitated. “Please calm down,” the monk shouted,” approaching one of the Pokemon. He placed his hands upon it and gently stroked it. This seemed to calm it down a bit, but the ship rumbled again as it took another hit, and the Pokemon began acting up again.

“Maybe you can help,” Taraka said, releasing his recently captured Bouffalant. “Come on out, Bouffy. Help me calm these Tauros down.” He felt like his new Pokemon, being a similar herd species, might be able to calm the herd. Using Bouffy as an example, Taraka managed to calm the first Tauros again, as well as one other. This was only a temporary fix, however, as yet another shot agitated the Tauros even further.

“This is not working,” Taraka observed. Fearing for his safety, the monk recalled his Pokemon and retreated from the cargo hold.

A few moments later, the ship lurched forward. Taraka had been traveling on the _Maverick_ long enough to know that the ship had managed to jump to warp space. Even though the Tauros were still on the brink of rampaging in the cargo hold, the monk was at least glad to have escaped their attackers.

Suddenly, Cyrus and Ace ran into the corridor from the living quarters. “How are you doing with the Tauros?” the captain asked.

“Not great,” Taraka answered. “Each hit we took riled them up again.”

“Well, maybe now that we’re out of harm’s way we can calm them down.” With that the three entered the cargo hold. Cyrus let out a fierce shout, and all the Tauros turned toward them. A skilled commander of Pokemon, the captain was soon able to get the Tauros to calm down. They were all a bit agitated still, so Taraka did his best to soothe them further.

“Well, that happened,” Cyrus said once they were sure the cattle were calmed down.

“What the hell did you do to piss them off so much?” Ace asked, looking over at Taraka.

“I’m pretty sure the ship getting shot didn’t help at all,” the monk pointed out. “And I’m not a cattle rancher of any sort, you know.”

“Well, I hope the rest of the trip is peaceful,” the android said.

The captain nodded. “And hopefully, now that we’re out of the system, we’ll have some more breathing room and won’t need to worry about Rooker’s men jumping us again.”

* * *

The _Maverick_ ’s crew gathered in the cargo hold as the ship dropped out of warp space in Artemis system in Alliance Sector 5. Eager to offload the Tauros and make some money, they waited for the ship to touch down on Attica. The Alliance farm world was covered in massive industrial-sized farms run by major agricultural corporations. Unlike a lot of the privately owned ranches out on the Outer Rim, the farms here were often overfilled and didn’t always have the best conditions for Pokemon.

Cyrus was a bit surprised that any corporations were buying cattle from Outer Rim ranchers, and that Darlene would even sell to them, but the _Maverick_ ’s captain supposed business was business. She had to keep her ranch running somehow.

While Axel, Ace, and Taraka got the Tauros unloaded from the cargo hold, Cyrus made contact with Darlene’s buyer and arranged from them to be picked up. Not too much time later, a few workers from the farm the Tauros were being sold to arrived at the spaceport to transport them away in skytrucks.

“That was an easy job,” Cyrus said as he watched the vehicles depart.

“Except for the part where we got shot at by smugglers,” Ace chimed in.

“Eh, that wasn’t so bad,” the captain said with a laugh. “Now, let’s go get paid.”

Cyrus made his way to the _Maverick_ ’s comms and called up Darlene to let her know the Tauros had been successfully delivered. “Thanks a bunch, hun,” his old friend thanked him. “Here’s the credits I owe you, as promised.”

“Much appreciated, Darlene,” Cyrus told her. “We’ll be sure to put this money to good use.”

“I hope so. An’ good luck with Rooker. I’m sure you’ll need it.”

“When did I ever need luck?” Cyrus said jokingly.

Darlene laughed. “Same ol’ Cyrus Drake. I’ll see you around, hun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Axel's player had to miss this session due to a hurricane, so it was just Taraka's player and Ace's player this time around, and for a brief bit it was just Taraka's player. A little bit of this session made its way into the previous chapter, but the bulk of it is in this one. So, shortly after we started, Ace's player had to leave for a bit, so Taraka's player went searching for Pokemon on his own. He came across this Bouffalant, and tried to approach catching it with RP. It didn’t go so well, so he resorted to combat and made it mad. Fortunately, he was able to put it to sleep and then he critical captured it. It was kind of ridiculous.
> 
> Ace's player got back right before that, so we jumped right into the Tauros delivery. That’s when I needed to eat myself. I ate at my computer, but due to desk space limitations, I had my plate on top of my keyboard and couldn’t make rolls and such. That’s why I threw some space combat at them. It was super rules light, just combat rolls for shooting and command rolls for piloting. And I outsourced it all to the players. In addition to rolling for their own characters, Ace's player rolled for Anya’s piloting, and Taraka's player rolled for Cyrus’s shooting. Funnily enough, the encounter lasted just about as long as I was eating. It all worked out perfectly.
> 
> Then all that was left was the delivery. Attica is a planet that made a brief appearance in the original Spacemon campaign, so I decided to reuse it as it perfectly fit the needs of what I needed. With payment taken care of, we wrapped up a little early since we only had two players. There was a little bit more to the session, but it made more sense to put it at the start of the next chapter, so stay tuned for that.


	11. Acquiring Allies

The  _UAS Maverick_  dropped out of warp space in the Argus system in Sector 5, on approach to Cacia. Having successfully delivered Darlene’s Tauros to Attica, the ship was stopping on the Alliance metropolis world to refuel and resupply. Captain Cyrus Drake had been to the planet before, but it was the first time most of his crew had visited it.

Ace in particular was sounding quite impressed as the ship broke through the atmosphere. He had never seen a planet completely covered in cities before. “Amazing,” the android said as he watched the towering skyscrapers pass by through the front viewport.

“Impressed?” Cyrus asked, glancing over at Ace.

The android nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. So many buildings! And so tall!”

Cyrus chuckled. “I guess you get used to it after a while,” he said. “It’s always mind blowing the first time you see a planet like this in person.”

“Eh, it’s not  _that_  impressive,” Axel butted in, shrugging off the captain’s comment.

The  _Maverick_ ’s captain shook his head. “Whatever you say.”

Not too much later, the ship touched down in one of Cacia’s many spaceports, and the crew disembarked.

“Wow,” Ace gasped as they stepped out onto a raised walkway looking out over the sea of towering structures.

The android started to run ahead, but Cyrus grabbed him by the shoulder before he got too far away. “Don’t get into trouble, now,” the captain warned him. “This would be a bad place to get exposed.”

Ace immediately slowed up. “You’re right,” he said. “I didn’t think of that.”

“It might be a good idea to pick up some more clothes to improve your disguise with,” Cyrus suggested. “Make it look more like you’re just wearing armor.”

Ace nodded. “Good idea.”

“Right,” Cyrus said. “Let’s get moving.”

And so, the  _Maverick_  crew split up to make their trip to Cacia more efficient, planning to meet up back at the ship later. Cyrus and Erik went off to pick up some supplies and rations, while Ace, Taraka, and Axel planned to do some shopping.

* * *

“Well, that was productive,” Axel said as he and his two crewmates exited one of the many weapons and armor vendors on Cacia. Being an Alliance world, they were all over the place.

It had been a few hours since the  _Maverick_  had landed and, in that time, the trio had been to several stores and put their recently earned money to good use. Axel hadn’t bought anything at this one, but both Ace and Taraka seemed satisfied with their purchases. Ace had got himself a ballistic pistol to use as a sidearm when his sword and shield combo wouldn’t be the right tools and Taraka had some custom light armor made to wear under his robes. The monk had expressed a desire to be more protected when they were in dangerous situations. Earlier, they had also picked up some items for their Pokemon, and Ace had picked himself up some new clothes and gear to better to disguise himself with.

“Indeed,” Taraka agreed with the Alliance mercenary. “Should we head back to the ship now? We have purchased everything we desired.”

“No sense walking all the way back if the captain’s not ready for us yet,” Axel said. “I’ll give him a call first.” The mercenary then pulled out his Pokedex and called up Cyrus.

“Axel,” the  _Maverick_ ’s captain greeted him upon picking up. “What do you need?”

“Just checking in to see if we’re ready to leave yet,” Axel replied.

“We’re still picking up supplies,” Cyrus said. “If you three are done with your shopping, why don’t you make yourselves useful and see if you can get us some help with our Rooker problem? Planets like this are a good place to find mercs after all.”

“Got it, boss,” Axel said. “I think we can handle that.”

“Good. See you back at the ship later.”

* * *

Cacia’s sun was starting to hang a bit low in the sky as Axel, Taraka, and Ace walked down a walkway on the lower levels of the city. As with a lot of Alliance metropolis worlds, the lower levels were filled with seedy establishments and unsavoury individuals. While he hadn’t been on Cacia before, Axel had been to many similar planets and knew how to find his way around places like this.

“This looks like a good place to look,” the Alliance mercenary said to his companions, stopping in front of a club that looked like it was frequented by the sorts of people he was looking for: mercs, smugglers, and gangsters.

“Are you sure we should go in there?” Ace asked, sounding quite skeptical.

“Of course,” Axel said, patting his robotic crewmate on the back. “These are my kind of people.”

“The two of us will certainly stick out, however,” Taraka said, motioning at Ace and himself.

“Don’t worry about it,” Axel assured the monk. “Just stick with me and everything will be fine.”

“If you say so,” Taraka said, following Axel as he entered the club.

Upon entering, Axel got a familiar vibe from the establishment. Between the throngs of unscrupulous-looking patrons and the aggressive hardcore jazz-punk playing in the background, he felt right at home.

“So now what?” Ace asked, taking a look around.

“Just leave this to me,” Axel said before walking up to the bar.

“What can I getcha?” the bartender asked.

“What do you know about Anton Rooker?” Axel asked the man, ignoring the question.

“Who?”

“Anton Rooker,” Axell repeated. “The smuggler. He’s kind of a big deal.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Bartenders in places like this are supposed to know these things,” Axel grumbled, annoyed.

“What the hell are you talkin’ about, pal?”

“Never mind,” Axel said, stepping back. He turned away from the bar and looked out across the club. “Hey!” he shouted, getting the attention of everyone nearby. “Hey! Who here knows about Anton Rooker?!”

Suddenly, the place got a lot quieter. There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence during which Taraka and Ace shuffled uncomfortably behind Axel.

“What’s it to you?” a gruff man sitting at one of the tables asked. Sizing him up, Axel could tell he knew how to handle himself.

“He’s giving us some trouble and we’re looking for some people to help us take him down,” Axel told the man.

“ _You_  want to take down Anton Rooker?”

Sensing some hostility, Axel began readying his flamethrower, just in case. “That’s what I said.”

“You here that boys?” the man asked, looking around at the guys sitting around him. “These three want to take down Anton Rooker,” he continued, laughing.

“Is that a problem?” Axel asked.

“Well, you see, the thing is,  _we_  also want to take down Anton Rooker.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Why don’t we work together?”

The man let out a laugh. “I was thinkin’ the same thing. We’re putting together a raid on one of Rooker’s shipments. Talk to my associate in the back if you wanna sign on.” The man nodded towards the back of the club.

“Sounds good,” Axel said before turning away. The Alliance mercenary began walking toward the back of the club, Taraka and Ace close behind.

“Don’t you think that was a bit reckless?” Ace asked.

Axel let out a loud laugh. “I knew what I was doing!”

At the back of the club, the trio located a merc with a short but scraggly beard and an eyepatch seated behind a table that was obviously set up for people to sign up for a mission. “You the guy we need to talk to to sign up for the Rooker mission?” Axel asked.

“Yup,” the man replied in a deep, gravely voice. “You look like you can handle yourselves. Is it just the three of you?”

“Nah,” Axel replied. “One more, plus a ship.”

“You’ve got a ship? Good.” The merc made a few quick swiping motions on his datapad. “Be at these coordinates in Sector 32 in nine days. You’ll get paid after the mission … if you survive.”

“That won’t be a problem for us,” Axel said with a chuckle.

The mercenary behind the table smirked. “Good. Welcome aboard.”

* * *

It was early evening by the time Ace, Axel, and Taraka stepped off the mag-train back to the spaceport. The stop was a good ways out from the port itself, so the trio still had a bit of a walk ahead of them.

As Ace walked away from the shuttle with his crewmates, a dark-haired man with a neatly trimmed beard wearing a lab coat who was too focused on his Pokedex to watch where he was going walked into him. “Watch where you’re walking,” the man chastised Ace even though their collision was clearly his fault. He spoke with an accent Ace was not familiar with. He definitely wasn’t a native of the planet.

“Sorry,” Ace apologized.

“Hmm,” the man said as he looked up from his Pokedex. His eyes then narrowed as he looked Ace over. “There is something odd about you.”

Ace began panicking internally.  _Does he see through my disguise?_  the android thought. “Nope. Nothing odd about me,” he said.

“I’m not so sure …” The man began reaching out. “Let me get a—”

The man’s words were cut off as Ace reflexively took a swing at his face with a closed fist. He was knocked right off his feet from the hit. Ace wasted no time in bolting away from the scene. “Run!” he shouted to his two crewmates, who began to follow him.

* * *

“What the hell happened back there?” Axel asked as he and his two crewmates neared the spaceport.

“I don’t know,” Ace answered. “I thought he saw through my disguise, so I panicked.”

“He did look like some kind of scientist,” Taraka said. “The kind of person we don’t want to get their hands on him.”

“In that case, I think we should get off this planet as soon as possible,” Axel said. “And let’s definitely not mention this to the captain.”

Ace nodded. “Agreed,” the android said.

A few moments later, the trio arrived back at the  _Maverick_  and boarded the ship. Making their way to the living quarters, they located Cyrus and Erik sitting at the table, chatting.

“Hey, Captain, we picked up a mission that’ll help us take down Rooker,” Axel informed his employer.

“Excellent,” Cyrus replied. “What are the details?

“Well, we have to be at these coordinates on the twenty-sixth,” Axel informed the captain, showing him the coordinates on his Pokedex. “We’re gonna raid a couple of his ships to hurt his business.”

Cyrus smirked. “Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah, it should be,” Axel said with a nod. “We only get paid as long as we survive, though. I figured that wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Well, I don’t think any of us plan on dying, now do we?”

“Exactly,” Taraka agreed. “So it’s not a problem.”

“Now we just need to figure out how to best prepare for this mission,” Cyrus said.

“Captain, we should leave this planet just in case Rooker finds out there’s something brewing here,” Axel said. He knew that was a rather unlikely thing to happen, but he thought it was a good idea to get off Cacia right away. “We should probably head out, just to be safe, you know?”

Cyrus nodded. “Good thinking,” the  _Maverick_ ’s captain said. “It’ll take a few days to get back to Sector 32 anyway, so we ought to get back there with enough time to spare. Once we make the jump, we’ll figure it out from there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I practically wrote this chapter from scratch. There was a tiny bit of session 6 to wrap up at the start of this chapter, but the majority of it is from session 7. Unfortunately, I forgot to start the recording at the beginning of the session again. The worst part was that there was some great RP from all the PCs at the beginning of the session. At the time of writing it had been many months since the session, so I forgot a lot of the details of the events that took place, the scene in the bar and the one with the scientist in particular. I basically rewrote an entirely new version of the bar scene, even if the end outcome was the same. It all worked out in the end, though. Just for pacing reasons, only the last scene is pulled from that recording (the first scene is from the end of session 6’s recording), and most of the session is left for the next chapter. The scene with the scientist was funny because I wasn’t expecting Ace's player to just punch the character I was trying to introduce and then run! Oh, and I reused a planet that made a brief appearance in Arlon’s origin story for the original Spacemon series.


	12. Electrifying Encounter on Erai!

The  _UAS Maverick_  sat docked on the planet Erai in Outer Rim Sector 32. Located in the Irra system, the planet was nearest settled world to the sector’s warp gate. Erai wasn’t the only habitable planet in the system, but it was the only one that had any trace of Human civilization as the other two worlds, Berith and Telmun, suffered from rather low temperatures. That was only one reason why the planets didn’t make for good locations for colonies; Berith, a snowy forest world, was also plagued with frequent volcanic activity, and Telmun was covered in a vast, frozen tundra and dense marshlands.

Erai itself wasn’t free of its own natural dangers either. It was a dry, arid planet whose atmosphere was full of electrically charged particles, which made it prone to massive electrical storms. Despite this, Erai was still preferable to its chilly neighbors. The storms didn’t bother the citizens of the planet too much. They really only needed to be considered by ships entering and leaving the atmosphere as they wrecked havoc on sensors and navigation systems.

The  _Maverick_  had been on the planet for a few days now, waiting for the date of the upcoming raid on Rooker’s ships. It was close enough now that the crew didn’t have time to fly elsewhere and still make it back in time.

At the moment, most of the ship’s crew were on board relaxing, but Axel and Taraka were out exploring the spaceport settlement, located on the border between Erai’s largest grassland and it’s largest desert. The settlement was quite sprawling, and was full of people from all walks of life.

As Axel walked along the streets, there was one goal on his mind: finding someone to trade Pokemon with. He was still in possession of an extra Growlithe that he didn’t have any use for, and none of his crewmates really wanted to trade for it. The next stop of his list of places to check was a cantina not too far from where the  _Maverick_  was docked.

Entering the establishment with Taraka close behind, Axel looked around. The place was packed full of all sorts of mercs, space travelers, and merchants.  _Surely one of these people might be willing to trade_ , Axel thought as he approached the bar.

“Hey, bartender!” the Alliance mercenary shouted over the cacophony of conversing voices filling the air.

“Yes? What can I get you?” the thin-lipped man behind the bar asked.

“Is there any place around here where people can trade Pokemon?” Axel asked. “I’ve got a Growlithe I’m looking to unload and I’m just looking for anyone with interesting Pokemon looking to trade.”

“Possibly.”

“ _Possibly?_ ” Axel asked, not liking the man’s noncommittal answer.  
  
“I mean, there’s all sorts of folk coming through here that might be interested.”

“Well, where would you suggest I head to?”

The bartender simply shrugged . “Look man, I just serve drinks.”

Axel frowned. “Man, you bartenders are supposed to know what’s going on in these areas.”

“Everyone always assumes that,” the bartender said as he let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Now do you want a drink or not?” Axel got the feeling he had to deal with people making that assumption a lot, and suddenly felt just a little bad.

“No, I’m good,” Axel told the man. “Sorry to bother you.” The mercenary departed from the bar, then glanced around the room, his eyes eventually falling upon Taraka.

“So now what?” the monk asked, chuckling and shaking his head.

“Well, I guess I’ll just ask around and see if anyone wants to trade.”

“Whatever you say,” Taraka said as he followed his crewmate through the crowd.

* * *

It had taken a while, but Axel had eventually found someone in the cantina who was interested in trading. She was a youngish space traveler Axel had estimated was in her late twenties. Axel had tried to chat the attractive young woman up, but she made it clear she wasn’t interested in anything more than trading Pokemon. Axel didn’t mind  _too_  much. At least he finally found someone to trade with. She had recently captured a Chimecho on the last planet she had visited, but she wasn’t too keen on keeping it. Axel wasn’t too interested in it, but it was better than having two of the same Pokemon, he figured.

With that business taken care of, Axel and Taraka were now venturing beyond the outskirts of town to search for more wild Pokemon to catch. It didn’t take the pair long to find what they were looking for; a few kilometers out from the settlement, they spotted a Helioptile basking on a rock as well as a Shinx stalking a Blitzle in the grass.

“Whad’ya say we capture these Pokemon?” Axel said, nudging Taraka with his elbow.

“I was thinking the same thing,” the monk replied, pulling out one of his Pokeballs. Hitting the button on the ball, Taraka released his giant Tangrowth. Axel wasn’t too far behind, releasing his trusty Charmander.

The Pokemon didn’t seem to notice them just yet, so the duo and their Pokemon crept up silently. Taraka surrounded them with a protective shroud of psionic energy as they approached, a preemptive countermeasure in case any of the Pokemon started showering them with sparks.

“Roma, use Shadow Punch,” Taraka commanded once they were in range. He pointed at the basking Helioptile, and his viney companion extended out one of her vine arms at rapid speed, knocking the surprised Pokemon right off its rock.

The Helioptile responded in kind by blasting Roma with a shower of sparks. The Tangrowth was, thankfully, quite resistant to electricity, but the hit still left her a bit stunned. Seizing the opportunity, the Helioptile attempted to run away. Taraka was having none of that; the monk pulled out a Pokeball and chucked it at the fleeing Pokemon, capturing it instantly.

“Nice work!” Axel complimented his crewmate as he moved in on the Shinx, which was now very much aware of their presence. The electric feline stared the mercenary and his Charmander down as they approached.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Pokemon. The fire lizard spit out a jet of flame that set the Shinx ablaze. Her trainer immediately followed up with another lick of fire from his flamethrower.

In response to this onslaught of flames, the Shinx began sparking violently and charged right at Ritsu. The two Pokemon collided in an explosion of sparks, but when the smoke cleared it was clear that the Shinx was the one that was close to going down. While it was stunned from the collision, Axel ran forward and pressed a Pokeball against the Shinx. The ball pulled the Pokemon inside, shook several times, and then fell still.

“Nice,” Axel said as he looked up to see how Taraka was doing.

The mercenary looked up just in time to see the monk’s Tangrowth strike the Blitzle with one of her vine arms. The Blitzle didn’t seem too happy about that, and charged at the Tangrowth, coating itself over in flames as it ran. It hit Roma dead on, but she seemed unfazed, despite her weakness to fire.

“You’ll need to do better than that,” Taraka said as he pulled out another Pokeball. He threw it at the Blitzle, and captured his second Pokemon of the day.

“This was too easy,” Axel said, walking up and patting his crewmate on the back. “We caught ‘em all like clockwork.”

“Indeed,” Taraka replied, nodding at the mercenary.

“Now, how about we head back to the ship and see what our new Pokemon can do?” Axel suggested.

“A fine idea,” Taraka agreed. “Perhaps they will be of some use on our upcoming mission.”

“Yeah,” Axel said with a laugh. “We need all the help we can get.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it for session 7. After wrapping up stuff on Cacia, the party decided to head back to the sector where they would be raiding Rooker’s ships, opting to hit up a planet to explore for the rest of the session along they way, since I needed the next week to prep the raid mission. Ace's player had to leave for dinner as his family was going out to eat, so this part of the session was just Axel's player and Taraka's player. Axel's player really wanted to trade out his extra Growlithe and decided to check out a cantina to look for someone to trade with. I randomly generated a Pokemon, which happened to be a Chimecho. I made up the trainer at the time of writing, nearly a year after the session, and decided to make a little dig at Axel’s womanizing tendencies. Axel's player also asked a bartender for information for the second time in the session, so I had the guy give him some shit for it. Then, as Ace's player was gone, Axel's player and Taraka's player opted to look for Pokemon since Ace's player wasn’t a fan of that particular activity. Taraka's player got a pair of really good capture rolls, catching both of his instantly, and Axel's player got a really awful one, but he got the Shinx so low on HP that he literally couldn’t fail the roll. Not much else to say about the chapter since it was a short one, but for narrative pacing it made sense to break things up this way. Look forward to the raid mission next chapter!


	13. Raiding Party

“The inner layers are made of flame retardant materials, so you should be well insulated if your flamethrower malfunctions, or if you get attacked by a fire Pokemon.” Erik had a proud smile on his face as he showed Axel the armor he built for him. “And the outer plating is partially made from the alloys used in those parts we found out in Sector 34,” the  _Maverick_ ’s engineer continued, rapping his knuckles against the suit of armor’s chestplate. “The same stuff Ace is made out of. So it shouldn’t restrict your movement too much. The helmet also has an integrated air filter to protect you from ash and other hazardous materials.”

“It’s perfect,” Axel said. “Just what I needed.” The mercenary was quite enamored with his crewmate’s creation. It had blown away all his expectations. “And you got it done just in time for the mission,” he continued, glancing out the viewport at the strands of warp energy surrounding the ship as it flew toward the rendezvous point with the mercenaries.

“It will certainly be a good way to test it out,” Erik said, nodding in agreement. “The only thing left to do is hook your flamethrower up to it.”

“Alright then,” Axel said, rubbing his hands together in excitement. “Let’s get to work.”

* * *

The  _Maverick_ ’s crew gathered at the front of the ship as it dropped out of warp space at the coordinates provided by the mercenaries back on Cacia. They were greeted by the sight of two ships out the front viewport, an Alliance-make light frigate and a Genevan-make bucket about the same size as the  _Maverick_. As the  _Maverick_  approached, the ship received a hail from the frigate and Cyrus accepted the call.

Axel immediately recognized the man who appeared on screen as one of the men he, Ace, and Taraka had spoken to back on Cacia: the gravely-voiced mercenary with an eyepatch who had been running recruitment. “Glad to see you could make it,” he said.

Axel smirked. “What? Did you think we were gonna miss this fight?”

The mercenary smirked back. “Of course not. We’re just glad to have a third ship for this. It will make it a whole lot easier.”

“So, what’s the plan here?” Cyrus asked.

“I’m glad you asked,” the man on screen said. “It’s simple really. I have it on good information that Rooker’s got a big shipment coming through here … and we’re gonna take it. Three ships total, one for each of ours. We wait here to ambush ‘em, then we board, take out everyone on board, then claim the cargo for ourselves. Like I said, simple.”

“It is simple,” Cyrus agreed. “I like it.”

“‘Atta boy, Captain,” Axel said, nudging his boss with his elbow. “We’re gonna kick some serious smuggler ass.”

“That’s the spirit,” the one-eyed mercenary said. “Good luck out there,” he added before disconnecting.

“Alright, boys,” Cyrus said, turning to the crew. “Let’s get armed and ready before our ‘friends’ show up.”

* * *

Captain Cyrus Drake sat in the cockpit of his ship along with his crew in anticipation of the battle to come. It had been a few hours since they had arrived, and according to the intel they had been provided, Rooker’s ships were due to arrive at any moment now.  _It won’t be long now_ , the  _Maverick_ ’s captain thought.

As if on cue, three ships, Alliance-make buckets to be precise, dropped out of warp space. The two mercenary ships immediately moved in to engage the new arrivals and Anya looked over at Cyrus for orders. “Hang back for now,” the captain said. “Axel, you and me on the guns. Everyone else, strap yourselves in.” Cyrus jumped up from his seat and ran for the gun controls, with Axel close behind.

Looking through the viewfinder for the ion cannons, Cyrus could see two of the smuggler ships engaging with the two mercenary ships, while the third was flying right for the  _Maverick_. “Let’s light ‘em up!” Axel shouted as he opened fire on the approaching ship with the photon cannons, peppering its shields.

As he lined up a shot of his own, Cyrus could see the other ships trading fire. Being far more heavily armed than any other ship in the battle, the mercenary frigate decimated the shields of its target and destroyed one of its engines. The third ship, meanwhile, opened fire upon the  _Maverick_. Fortunately, Anya was a skilled pilot and was able to roll the ship out of harm’s way. Cyrus quickly adjusted his aim to account for the movement and opened fire.

Axel immediately followed up with his own volley of shots. The smuggler ship’s shields held up against the combined assault, but there was no way they could absorb the sustained fire for long. The ship fired back at the  _Maverick_  flew in closer, but Anya once again avoided taking any hits.

From this much closer range, Cyrus was easily able to shred through the shields with the ion cannons, opening it up for Axel. The mercenary wasted little time in taking advantage of the situation, blasting a hole through the ship’s airlock.

“We’re moving in to board now,” the gravely voice of the mercenary leader sounded over the comms. Through his viewfinder, Cyrus could see the frigate docking with the smuggler ship it had easily disabled. The other two ships, however, were still trading shots.

Shifting trajectory in response to the damage it had incurred, the smuggler ship began to flee from the  _Maverick_ , but Anya pursued. With a few well-placed shots, Axel disabled one of its engines, allowing Anya to fly in close and dock with the damaged airlock.

“Alright boys, let’s do this!” Cyrus shouted as he jumped up from his seat. “Axel, Taraka, form up on the airlock! Ace, man the guns and hold the fort down!”

“You can count on me!” Ace said as he took over control of the photon cannons.

* * *

Axel tightly gripped the handle of his flamethrower as he moved through the airlock with Cyrus and Taraka. Since he had blasted the smuggler ship’s exterior airlock door open during the ambush, they were easily able to enter. The only thing standing in their way now was the interior airlock door, which was still sealed tight.

“There’s a console here,” Taraka said, approaching the door. Axel watched the monk press his hand against the panel, but nothing happened.

“It must be locked from inside,” Axel mused.

“That seems to be the case,” Taraka agreed.

“If only we had Ace with us; he might be able to hack it open,” Axel said, approaching the console to get a look at it. He certainly had no idea how to do it himself.

“Just try shooting it,” Cyrus suggested.

“You got it, boss,” Axel said. He took a step back, then aimed his flamethrower at the console. “Stand back, Taraka.”

Once the Sinai monk was a safe distance away, Axel squeezed the trigger, shooting a jet of flames at the door console. After a few seconds the console began melting from the heat, then started to spark. About a minute later, the airlock door slid open, albeit rather ungracefully.

“Nice work,” Cyrus said, clasping Axel on the shoulder as he passed by and walked through the door. Axel and Taraka followed close behind their captain into the smuggler ship.

“Oy! Where d’ya think your goin’?!” a voice shouted as they crossed the threshold. Axel quickly grabbed a Pokeball and released his recently captured Shinx as a pair of smugglers appeared from around a corner, guns raised.

Taraka seemed to have the same idea, releasing his new Blitzle. “Blitz, Shock Wave!” As his Pokemon shot a bolt of electricity at one of the smugglers, the Sinai monk stepped back and put up a psionic barrier around the crew and their Pokemon.

Axel aimed his flamethrower at the other smuggler and blasted him with fire, then turned to his Pokemon. “Krieg, use Spark!” he commanded his Shinx. The electric feline ran up next to Taraka’s Blitzle, absorbing electrical energy from her before diving into the smuggler she had already zapped. As Krieg collided with the smuggler, the Shinx unleashed a massive discharge of electricity that caused the man to seize up. The smuggler then collapsed on the floor, twitching. The powerful current running through his body caused the Pokeball on his belt to trigger an emergency release, letting loose a Mightyena.

Seeing the punishment the boarders had dished out on his crewmate, the remaining smuggler threw out his own Pokemon, a Koffing. He then took aim at Axel’s Shinx with his pistol and fired. Fortunately, the psionic barrier Taraka had put up greatly reduced the speed of the rapidly accelerated metal projectile, mitigating the damage.

Meanwhile, the unconscious smuggler’s Mightyena lashed out at the nearest thing it could reach, sinking its fangs into Taraka’s Blitzle. While the monk’s barrier spread the force of the impact over a wider area, the Mightyena’s sharp teeth still pierced through, forcing it to dissipate.

“Use Poison Gas!” the remaining smuggler ordered his Pokemon. The Koffing floated down between Axel, Taraka, and their Pokemon and expelled a steady stream of toxic fumes. Axel made a note to thank Erik for having the foresight to install an air filter in his helmet when he got back to the ship; he was completely unaffected by the gas thanks to the  _Maverick_ ’s engineer.

Taraka wasn’t so lucky. “Blitz ... Shock Wave that Koffing!” the monk managed to cough out. His Blitzle obliged and zapped the poisonous Pokemon with electricity.

“Krieg, Bite it!” Axel then ordered his own Pokemon. Fighting through the poisonous haze, the Shinx leapt up at the Koffing and sunk his teeth in.

Cyrus, meanwhile, fired at the smuggler from outside the toxic cloud, landing a shot right in his shoulder. Axel attempted to follow up, firing a burst of flames at him, but the wounded smuggler ducked behind a crate just in time. The smuggler then poked his head out and took a potshot at Taraka, landing a glancing blow to his armor.

“Now you’ve done it,” the monk said, hefting up his quarter staff. He rushed at the smuggler and clocked him in the head with the metal staff. Dazed, the smuggler stumbled backwards, right into Cyrus’s sights. A well-placed shot to the other shoulder by the  _Maverick_ ’s captain brought him down.

The smugglers may have been dealt with, but their Pokemon were still a problem. The  _Maverick_  crew didn’t even get a moment to breathe before the Mightyena leapt at Taraka’s Blitzle, teeth barred. Thinking quickly, Axel put himself between Blitz and the Mightyena and grabbed the attacking Pokemon. Unable to reach its target, the Mightyena sunk its teeth into Axel’s other arm, finding just the right spot between the armor plating. Axel grunted as pain shot through his arm, but he fought through. The alliance mercenary pulled the Mightyena off and slammed it into a nearby crate.

 _That should keep it down for a while_ , Axel thought, turning to face the Koffing as it spat a ball of sludge at his Pokemon. “Hang in there, Krieg!” the mercenary encouraged the Shinx, which just barely stood up to the attack. Cyrus then fired a powerful shot at the Koffing, bringing it down.

“Blitz, Shock Wave!” Taraka commanded as the Mightyena picked itself back up. The monk’s Blitzle fired a burst of electricity at the Mightyena, wearing it down.

“Now, finish it with Spark!” Axel shouted. His Shinx rushed the Mightyena, sparking violently as it drew electrical energy from within itself and from the Blitzle. Krieg plowed right into the Mightyena, unleashing an explosion of sparks. When the bright light cleared, the Shinx was standing over the unconscious body of the Mightyena.

“Alright you two,” Cyrus said. “Let’s get moving. We need to capture the bridge. There’s gotta be more of them, so keep your guard up.”

“Just a moment,” Taraka said as he recalled his Blitzle and sent out his Shuppet. The monk then pulled out an antidote for the poisonous gas and gulped it down. Stowing the empty bottle away, Taraka pulled out a potion and handed it to Axel. “Here.”

“Thanks,” Axel said, taking the potion from his crewmate. The mercenary felt revitalized as he sipped the concoction down. He then recalled his Shinx and swapped out to his Alakazam. “Let’s do this,” he said, taking a step toward the corridor that lead to the front of the ship.

As the trio moved down the corridor, another smuggler jumped out at them from a doorway. Axel watched as Cyrus’s quick reflexes kicked in and the captain raised his pistol, took aim, and fired, laying the man out with a well-placed shot. “Nice one, boss,” Axel complimented his employer as he stepped over the smuggler lying on the floor.

“It was nothing,” the captain replied as he led his crew further down the corridor.

The narrow passageway opened up into an open area at the front of the ship, and Axel could see the mercenary ships docked with the other two smuggler ships out the front viewport. He could also see four more smugglers waiting for them.

“Don’t just stand there!” the apparent leader shouted, an Alliance Outer Colony accent quite apparent. “Shoot ‘em!”

The  _Maverick_  crew dove for cover as the smugglers opened fire on them. Hearing the ballistic projectiles deflecting off the metal of the bulkhead he was hiding behind, Axel clutched his flamethrower tighter. Once the shots stopped coming, the Alliance mercenary poked his head out to see the smugglers release Pokemon as they moved in, two more Mightyenas and two more Koffings.

“Just great,” Axel grumbled. He then turned the his Alakazam, taking cover beside him, and gave it an order. “Ryner, use Reflect. Protect us from those projectiles.” As his Pokemon threw up a protective barrier, Axel stepped out of cover and squeezed the trigger of his flamethrower, shooting a ball of fire at the nearest Koffing. Unfortunately, the Pokemon managed to float up and out of the way.

“Now it get’s serious!” Cyrus shouted as he popped out of cover. The  _Maverick_ ’s captain quickly tossed out a Pokeball, then took a few shots at the smugglers before ducking back behind cover. “Peregrine, use Flail!” he ordered his newly released Talonflame from the relative safety of the console he was crouched behind. His Pokemon dove at the Koffing Axel had shot at and swiped at it with one of his talons.

“Spooperz, Night Shade!” Taraka commanded his Shuppet before throwing up another protective psionic barrier. His ghostly Pokemon blasted the Koffing with dark energy, keeping up the sustained assault against the poisonous Pokemon.

“Nox, deal with that Shuppet!” the Pokemon’s trainer commanded in response. “Use Assurance!” The Koffing rapidly floated toward Spooperz, but the Shuppet was faster and managed to avoid the hit.

“Chomper, hit that Alakazam!” another of the smugglers ordered his Mightyena as he moved in.

“Dodge it, Ryner!” Axel shouted as the mightyena lunged at his Pokemon. The Alakazam swiftly sidestepped, and the attacking Pokemon ran past, skidding on the floor as it attempted to turn around.

The Pokemon’s trainer, meanwhile, aimed his rifle at Peregrine and fired at the Talonflame, which was clawing at his crewmate with his talons. The shot hit the fire bird dead on, and the other smuggler seized the opportunity to get away and take a shot at Cyrus, who had poked his head out of cover. The captain quickly ducked back down to avoid the shots, then popped back out and returned fire, landing a glancing shot on his attacker. He ducked back down again as the two smugglers in the back laid down suppressing fire as they moved in with their Pokemon.

“Ryner, use Icy Wind!” Axel commanded his Alakazam as the smuggler the captain had shot continued to move up with his fellow smuggler’s Mightyena. The powerful icy variant of psychic Pokemon unleashed a blast of freezing air, slowing the Mightyena down, and knocking the smuggler completely unconscious. Axel then shot a burst of flames at the Mightyena, landing a good hit while it was still vulnerable.

Cyrus followed up Axel’s assault with a few shots from his pistol, bringing the Mightyena down. The  _Maverick_ ’s immediately shouted an order to his Pokemon as he motioned at the Koffing. “Peregrine, use Peck!” His Talonflame swooped down at the Koffing, striking it with his beak.

“Now, Spooperz, Shadow Sneak!” Taraka commanded. His Shuppet flew in and bashed into the Koffing, knocking it out. As it sunk to the floor, the Koffing unleashed a final blast of explosive energy and toxic fumes, leaving the two Pokemon assaulting it injured.

By this point, the other two smugglers and their Pokemon had gotten close, and the  _Maverick_  crew had to duck back into cover to avoid their incoming fire. From his position behind the bulkhead, Axel watched as Taraka put up another psionic barrier for protection.

A piercing cry from Cyrus’s Talonflame brought Axel’s focus back to the smugglers. The Pokemon had been hit dead on by the nearest smuggler, but he was miraculously still fighting on. “Ryner hit that guy with Ice Beam!” Axel commanded his own Pokemon. He knew they couldn’t afford to lose Cyrus’s fierce fire bird.

The beam of cold energy struck the smuggler right in the chest, trapping his torso in ice. “Now, finish him with Flail!” Cyrus shouted. Flapping wildly around the partially immobilized smuggler, Peregrine rapidly struck him with his beak and talons, taking him out of commission.

Trying to keep the smugglers off his Pokemon, Cyrus jumped out of cover and fired off a few shots with his pistol. The smugglers fired back, and the leader landed a shot on his thigh. The  _Maverick_ ’s captain quickly dove for cover again just as another volley of shots flew his way.

The smuggler’s Pokemon, meanwhile, sought out different targets. Seemingly well disciplined and trained, the two Pokemon acted on their own, the Mightyena moving in on Taraka’s Shuppet, and the Koffing going for the monk himself. Spooperz managed to float out of the way as the Mightyena leapt up at her, but Taraka didn’t have that luxury. Thankfully, the monk’s psionic barrier managed to absorb a lot of the impact of the ball of toxic sludge the Koffing spit out at him.

Spotting the leader moving up on the left around the other side of a large support column, Axel popped out of cover and shot a quick burst of flames from his flamethrower to halt his progress. Peeking out from around the column, the leader aimed his rifle at Axel, but before he could line up the shot, Cyrus’s Talonflame swooped down at him.

“ _Gah!_ ” the smuggler leader grunted, swatting the Pokemon away. “Mightyena, deal with that annoying bird! Use Bite!” Heeding its master’s command, the Mightyena leapt up at Peregrine and sunk its fangs in, finally taking the Talonflame down. Cyrus quickly leaned out of cover to recall his fallen Pokemon, then took a few potshots at the leader before ducking back in.

“Spooperz, Night Shade!” Taraka directed his Shuppet after the smuggler leader before running up to the other one and taking a swing at him with his staff. The smuggler ducked down under the staff as it whizzed past his head then attempted to take a shot at the monk with his pistol. With quick reflexes of his own, Taraka sidestepped away to avoid the shot, then dove into cover.

In response to the Shuppet assaulting him, the smuggler leader aimed his rifle at her and took a shot. Fortunately, the reflective barrier that Axel’s Alakazam had conjured earlier shielded her. “Now, Spite!” Taraka commanded. Spooperz’s eyes flashed red, and the smuggler’s rifle jammed up, sparking with dark energy. The smuggler tossed the now-useless weapon aside, then pulled out his pistol and took a few shots at the Shuppet, who simply phased through the wall, out of harm’s way.

“Fumes, use Poison Gas,” the other smuggler ordered his own Pokemon. His Koffing floated into the fray and inflated as it built up poisonous gas, then it spewed it out.

“Ryner, use Icy Wind!” Axel commanded his Alakazam, thinking quickly. Ryner unleashed another blast of freezing air, blowing the gas away, and pelting the smuggler and the two Pokemon near him. Axel then followed up his Pokemon’s attack with a blast of flames from his flamethrower. The ball of fire hit the Mightyena and erupted into a fiery explosion that knocked the smuggler standing beside it out.

“Spooperz, Will-O-Wisp the leader!” Taraka shouted from cover. His Shuppet released a ghostly flame and floated it over to the sole remaining smuggler, setting him alight. The monk then recalled his ghostly Pokemon and sent out his Ponyta.

“Take care of that one!” the smuggler leader directed his Mightyena at Taraka before taking a few shots at Axel. The mercenary’s armor absorbed the hits, and he pressed forward, blasting the smuggler with another jet of flames.

Axel then turned to see the Mightyena skidding past Taraka. The Koffing seemed to be a bigger threat at the moment, so Axel pointed it out and ordered his Alakazam to attack. “Ryner, use Psybeam!” The Alakazam fired off a beam of psychic energy, but the Koffing floated out of the way, then spit back a ball of sludge. Fortunately, Taraka’s psionic barriers shielded him from harm.

“Great, now use Disable!” Ryner hit the Koffing with a ray of psychic energy, leaving it stunned for a moment. It was just enough time for Cyrus to shoot off a volley of shots from his pistol, doing a real number on the Pokemon. Having left himself exposed, the  _Maverick_ ’s captain took a pistol shot to the shoulder, but he was a tough one. Axel knew it was going to take more than that to keep him down.

“Blaze, Flame Wheel!” Taraka shouted. “Bring down that Koffing!” The monk’s Ponyta charged at the Koffing, surrounded by flames, but the Pokemon floated up and out of the way. It then dropped back down, slamming into the Ponyta. Not having any of that, Blazes’s flames flared up, setting the Koffing on fire. “Now, Ember!” The Ponyta then quickly turned around and spit more flames at the burning Koffing, continuing to whittle it down.

The monk’s rapid-fire orders seemed to draw the attention of the Mightyena, which leapt up at him, teeth bared. Luckily for Taraka, the last remnants of Ryner’s protective barrier kept him safe. A few shots from Cyrus’s pistol later, the Mightyena was lying knocked out on the floor.

The others seemed to have the Pokemon under control, so Axel shifted his focus back to the smuggler leader. “Ryner, use Ice Beam!” the Alliance mercenary shouted. “Take him out!” The Alakazam fired off a beam of cold energy that struck the smuggler dead on, knocking him out. Glancing back at the others, Axel saw the Koffing collide with the wall thanks to a powerful swing of Taraka’s staff.

“That was one hell of a fight,” Cyrus said, chuckling as he limped out from cover, clutching his wounded shoulder.

“Are you alright, Captain?” Taraka asked, rushing over to assist him.

“I’ll live. Let’s round these guys up, then get back to the  _Maverick_  and check in with our friends.”

“I think they’re doing just fine,” Axel said, looking out the front viewport. The mercenary ships had undocked from the smuggler vessels, and the ships had completely ceased firing upon each other. It was clear that the mercenaries had successfully captured the smuggler ships.

* * *

“Well, I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed,” the gravelly-voiced mercenary leader said. “You did much better capturing that ship than I expected.”

Axel let out a chuckle. “I told you it wouldn’t be a problem.”

The mercenary leader smirked. “That you did.” He then stepped back and motioned towards several crates full of Rooker’s cargo. “As promised, here’s your payment. This share of the stolen cargo is yours to do with what you will.”

“It’ll do, I suppose,” Cyrus said. “We tend to stick to the more legitimate side of business in the Rim.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find a use for it,” the mercenary leader said, extending his hand.

“I’m sure we will,” Cyrus said, clasping the mercenary’s hand and giving it a firm shake. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun session. The chapter was a bit tedious to write since it has been a good while since I wrote a full-session chapter. This one encapsulated all of session 8, plus a tiny bit of session 9. I also remembered to record from the beginning this time since I started leaving reminders on the Roll20 screen so that I wouldn’t forget to record. It worked for session 8, but I forgot again for session 9. Session 8 ran a bit long, so we ended right after combat finished and we dealt with the aftermath of the fight at the start of session 9. Obviously I didn’t record any of the RP that might have happened, but once the recording started I had the foresight to recap the important bits for my future self. Fortunately, not too much was missing.
> 
> Onto the actual content of the chapter, Ace's player was absent again, so I ran the session with just Axel's player and Taraka's player, and gave them Cyrus as a helper. I actually had a complete build for him and his Talonflame by this point so it wasn’t too hard. I also prebuilt the smugglers and two different Pokemon. Although in going back to write, I wish I built a couple other Pokemon to make things less confusing. At this point, I still hadn’t set up the recording process to capture video of what was going on in Roll20, so I had a bit of trouble keeping track of some things with just audio. I think I did a pretty good job producing a cohesive final result though. I also played around with the initiative order and the exact details of the battles to make it more believable. I’m very happy with how it turned out. As for the armor, it was something to narratively explain some of the things Axel gets from the Firebringer class, namely immunity to being burned. This is the session where I actually gave it to him, but I have of course worked its acquisition into the chapters already to make everything flow better. That’s one of the things I love being able to do now that I’m writing the chapters well after the actual sessions. I also went ahead and worked the gasmask Axel's player had since the beginning of the campaign into the armor since the Koffing using Poison Gas in this chapter was the first time it had actually come up.


	14. Preparations on Paso

Captain Cyrus Drake could feel a slight air of tension aboard the  _UAS Maverick_  as the ship approached the planet Paso in the Maravilla system. It was entirely unwarranted; the last time the ship’s crew had been to this planet, they had been falsely accused of smuggling spice! A few members of the crew, namely Axel, had been apprehensive about returning, but the  _Maverick_ ’s captain had insisted. He had good reason to come back to the place where this whole business had started.

Cyrus’s plan was a simple one: deliver the cargo his crew had obtained during the raid of Rooker’s ships to the Federation officials on Paso as a token of good faith, to show that they were dedicated to dealing with Rooker and clearing there good names. Of course, he would have liked to handle this on another planet, but as the most populous planet in relatively unsettled Sector 32, it was the only place with significant Federation presence.

“ _UAS Maverick_  to Paso Orbital Station, requesting permission to dock,” Cyrus heard Anya broadcast over the comms as she flew the  _Maverick_  in.

“We read you,  _Maverick_. Please state your business.”

“We’re on special contract to Sector 32 gym leader Darlene Buckley,” Cyrus explained, taking over the comms. “We’re here to deliver contraband cargo obtained during a raid of a smuggler convoy belonging to Anton Rooker.”

“Oh … hmm … I see,” the man on the other end of the comm channel replied, sounding a bit confused. “I had best let Captain Russell know you’re here. You’re clear to dock.”

* * *

Axel was feeling rather smug. In some sort of twist of fate, he and his  _Maverick_  crewmates were delivering a shipment of illicit goods to the very same pair of Federation troopers they had an altercation with the last time they were here. Neither of them looked particularly happy about it. Captain Russell, the officer in charge of the station, however, was eager to assist.

“We wanna turn this stuff in because we wanna keep all this bad stuff off the streets, Y’know?” the Alliance mercenary told the Federation captain as he glanced over at his two subordinates. “We’re good people who don’t smuggle.”

“Of course, of course,” Captain Russell said. “We’re happy to clear up this whole misunderstanding.”

“Yeah, just a  _biiiig_  misunderstanding,” one of the troopers grumbled, glaring at Axel. The mercenary recognized him as the one who had tried to restrain him several weeks ago.

“Exactly,” Axel said, continuing to tease the Federation soldiers. “The whole thing was a huge misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to burn you.”

“ _Right_ ,” the other trooper replied rather sarcastically.

“Now, now, boys,” Captain Russell said. “No need to hold a grudge.” He then turned to Cyrus “We’ll get all this processed and taken care of right away.”

“That would be most appreciated,” the  _Maverick_ ’s captain said as the two troopers moved off with the captured cargo.

“I don’t suppose there’s any reward for turning this stuff in,” Taraka spoke up. “We did put our lives at risk for this when we shouldn’t have had to.”

Captain Russell stroked his chin. “Hmm. I’ll see what I can do. If you’ll follow me, please.”

* * *

This day just kept getting better. Axel had a grin on his face as he and his crewmates walked back to the  _Maverick_ , each of them one-thousand credits richer. It wasn’t as much as they probably could have made by just selling Rooker’s cargo, but getting compensation for their troubles directly from the Federation was far sweeter.

“We got paid for this, you know,” Axel taunted the two troopers as they passed them by on the way back to the ship. He couldn’t help it.

The soldier who had attempted to restrain him scowled back at him. “Stay out of trouble.”

“Oh, I intend to,” Axel replied, his smug smile still on display.

Cyrus just chuckled and shook his head as he stepped through the airlock back onto the  _Maverick_. Axel gave the troopers one last triumphant glance before following the captain aboard.

“So, do you guys think we’re ready to take Rooker on yet,” Cyrus asked as they all headed for the living quarters. “I have to say, I was quite impressed with how all of you performed during that raid.”

“I think we should spend a bit more time training first,” Axel replied. “Our Pokemon need to be stronger before we attempt to take Rooker on.”

“I think we should also restock our gear,” Taraka chimed in. “We could do with a lot more medical supplies, just in case things go badly.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Cyrus agreed. “I’ll tell Anya to bring the ship down to the surface.”

* * *

Taraka gazed around at the surrounding buildings as he, Axel, and Ace walked down one of the major streets of Paso’s only city. The three of them had spent the past several hours browsing shops for supplies to help them with their inevitable confrontation with Rooker, and were now on their way back to the  _Maverick_. Taraka’s attention was soon called to a Pokemon battling gym by Axel. It wasn’t an official gym of the Outer Rim Gym League, but it was one of those public battling gyms that followed the league’s rules and regulations.

“What do you say, boys?” the Alliance mercenary asked, stopping in place and turning to the building. “How about we find someone to battle here and test our strength? There’s bound to be some tough trainers here.”

“Sounds like fun,” Ace said.

“I concur,” Taraka agreed. “We could use the preparation.”

“That settles it, then,” Axel said. “Let’s do this.”

Taraka followed as Axel began walking toward the gym. Inside, Taraka could see many trainers duking it out in the designated arenas. Single battles, double battles, tag-team battles; there was lots of variety. There were also a great deal more people watching their friends duke it out.

“Alright, who’s the toughest trainer here?!” Axel suddenly shouted, drawing the attention of several combatants and most of the onlookers.

One of the people watching the battles, a young guy with dusty blonde hair who had the look of a Pokemon trainer himself, quickly approached the three members of the  _Maverick_  crew. “If you’re looking for a hard battle, then you wanna fight Bartrand.” He pointed out a gruff-looking dark-haired man leaning up against the far wall. “He’s the toughest trainer here. No one’s been able to beat him since he showed up a few days ago.”

Taraka saw a grin break out on his Alliance crewmate’s face. “That’s exactly who we want to battle, then,” Axel said.

Taraka and Ace followed a little ways behind as Axel led the way across the floor to the far wall. The man the young trainer had called Bartrand looked up as they approached. “Yes?” he asked. From up close, Taraka noticed that the man definitely had the look of a mercenary about him.

“You Bartrand?” Axel asked.

“Yeah, that’s me,” the man said, stepping forward from the wall. Taraka picked up a subtle Genevan accent in his speech. “Bartrand Blackwing,” he continued, extending out his hand. “And who might you be?”

Axel clasped the man’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “Axel. Axel Zuikaku. And these are my crewmates Taraka and Ace.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Taraka said with a nod.

“We heard you’re the one to beat around here,” Axel continued.

Bartrand smirked. “That’s what they say. You three look like you know your stuff.” He glanced over at the other trainers engaged in battles. “You certainly look tougher than this lot. Let’s see what you’ve got. I’ll take you all on at once.”

Taraka saw Axel’s grin return. “Now we’re talking,” the mercenary said, his voice full of anticipation of the coming battle.

Bartrand led his challengers to an unused battle ring, and the three of them each sent out a Pokemon. Taraka and Ace went with their newly battle-tested electric combo of Blitzle and Shinx, and Ace sent out his trusty Kirlia.

“This is gonna be fun,” Bartrand said, sending out his three Pokemon: a Crobat, a Seviper, and an Arbok. “Alright, Vlad, lead off with Poison Fang!” he quickly shouted a command. “Target that Shinx!” Rapidly flapping its wings, Bartrand’s Crobat darted through the air and sunk its fangs into Axel’s Pokemon, dealing a pretty nasty blow.

“Blitz, Shock Wave!” Taraka commanded his Pokemon in response. “We need to deal with that Crobat right away!” Sparks erupted from the horn atop the head of the monk’s Blitzle as she fired a focused arc of electricity at the Crobat.

“Blade, you too!” Ace ordered his Kirlia. “Use Confusion!” A blast of psychic energy from Ace’s Pokemon drove the Crobat back. It looked hurt now, but it continued to circle above.

“Naga, deal with that Blitzle!” Bartrand ordered his Arbok in response to the assault on his Crobat. “Fire Fang!” The first of his snake Pokemon slithered up to Blitz, flames building in its mouth. It sunk its fangs in, doing a real number on the electric Pokemon.

“It’s time to get even, Krieg!” Axel shouted. “Target that Crobat with Spark!” Boosted with charged up electricity from Blitz, Axel’s Shinx leapt into the air, violently sparking as he collided with Bartrand’s Pokemon. The Crobat was easily brought down by the overcharged attack.

“Two can play at that game,” Bartrand said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. “Viper, finish that Shinx with Poison Tail!” the Genevan merc’s Seviper slithered up, brandishing its razor-sharp tail, and lashed out at Krieg, bringing him down.

“Your turn now, Ryner,” Axel said, swapping out to his Alakazam. “Now, use Psybeam!”

“You too, Blade,” Ace joined in. “Confusion!”

The combined psychic assault was more than enough to bring down Bartrand’s type-disadvantaged Seviper. “That just leaves one more,” Taraka said. “Get that Arbok with Shock Wave!”

“Naga, fight through!” Bartrand shouted as his Pokemon was blasted with electrical energy. “Strike back with Crunch!” His Arbok lunged forward, snapping its jaws as Blitze, but Taraka’s Pokemon hopped back and out of the way.

“Now, Ryner! Finish it with Psybeam!” Axel ordered. His Alakazam fired off one last psychic beam of energy, bringing the Arbok down.

“Well, that was a quick fight,” Bartrand said as he recalled his Pokemon. “You three  _are_  tough, but I probably could have pulled it out if you hadn’t used an extra Pokemon.”

“You never said we only had to use one,” Axel pointed out.

Bartrand chuckled. “How right you are. Those observation skills will serve you well in the real world.” The Genevan mercenary extended his hand to shake those of his victorious challengers. “It was a good battle nonetheless.”

Taraka nodded. “It was indeed.”

“You know,” Axel said. “We could use a good fighter like you to help with our current contract.”

Bartrand laughed. “I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m afraid I have a contract of my own that requires my presence here on Paso.”

“I understand,” Axel replied. “Well, good luck to you.”

Bartrand nodded. “And to you as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have another short chapter. It was refreshing after the length of the previous one. That one ended up being a slog to write, but this one I was able to churn out in about 24 hours. It really helped rev up my motivation. Taraka's player happened to be running a bit late, which was what got me mixed up on starting recording. As mentioned in the last chapter, not much was actually missing. I only had to fill in a few details at the beginning.
> 
> The party decided they wanted to turn in the cargo they got from the raid during the previous session, so I had them go back to where it all started. Bringing back the Federation soldiers they previously fought was fun and brought out some good RP. In the opening scene I framed it similarly to the opening scene from Chapter 2. I sort of wanted to evoke a full circle vibe with this session/chapter since the first story arc was wrapping up.
> 
> We actually did start the buildup to the final mission at the end of the session, but that will get pushed to the next chapter, along with the mission itself. The players wanted to get some more training in so they headed down to the planet’s surface to find some random trainers to fight. I didn’t feel like relying on a generator, so I actually just used my character from a previous PTU campaign I was in with Taraka's and Axel's players that was GMed by the GM of the main Spacemon campaign since the trainer and Pokemon levels were about on par with this campaign’s party. It was just out of convenience at the time, but in coming back to write this I decided to make it a full cameo and use his name and Pokemon nicknames and base the character himself on the source character. He was only named Blackwing in the campaign he was from, but I did use him again in a short-lived text RP where I did give him a first name, which is the name he has here. His trainer build is actually a precursor to the build of my character in the Spacemon sequel campaign, so I actually have this headcanon now that the two are related. In fact, I ended up developing quite a big headcanon for a one off cameo character, so now I wanna bring him back in a future plot arc for Frontier.


	15. Clash on Crion

The  _UAS Maverick_  sat docked on Paso as the ship’s crew planned their next move. “Well, boys,” Captain Cyrus Drake addressed his crew. “I think the time has finally come for us to make our move against Rooker. It’s high time we get a little payback.”

“I agree,” Axel said, punching his right fist into the open palm of his left hand. “I’m ready to roast that bastard.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Cyrus said. “We need to come up with a plan. And we’re definitely going to need some help.”

“What if we try getting in contact with those mercenaries again?” Taraka suggested. “They really helped us out last time.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Cyrus replied. “Let’s give ‘em a call.”

Cyrus sent out the call, and it was answered rather quickly. The familiar face of the one-eyed mercenary leader appeared on the screen. “Hello again,” he greeted the  _Maverick_  crew. “I was wondering when I was going to hear from you again. What can I do for ya?”

“We were hoping you could help us with an assault on Rooker’s base,” Cyrus explained.

The mercenary leader chuckled. “That’s funny,” he said. “I was thinking of contacting you for the same reason. I was really impressed with your performance during that raid.”

“I take it that means you’re in,” Axel said.

“Course it does,” the mercenary leader replied. “We managed to get one of Rooker’s men to spill the beans on the specific location of his secret mountain base on Crion and we’ve been working on putting together a plan.”

“Alright,” Cyrus said. “Let’s hear this plan of yours.”

* * *

 

Captain Cyrus Drake sat in the  _Maverick_ ’s cockpit on high alert. His ship was parked in a secluded valley between the mountains of Crion, waiting for the signal from the mercenaries. The plan was simple; the mercs would draw Rooker’s men out with a direct assault on the smuggler’s mountain base, opening up a window for the  _Maverick_  to slip into the hangar so the ship’s crew could infiltrate the base and capture Rooker.

Despite the simplicity of the plan, the assault was going to be a little more difficult than Cyrus originally thought. His new mercenary allies had it on good authority that Rooker had hired on a group of mercenaries of his own for added security after his ships were raided. After seeing his crew in action over the past few weeks,  _Maverick_ ’s captain had a good feeling they would be able to handle whatever Rooker and his new hired goons threw at them.

“You ready to kick Rooker’s ass, Captain?”

Cyrus turned to see Axel walking up behind him, a grin on his face. “You bet your ass I am,” the captain said. “This has been a long time coming.”

“Damn right.”

Suddenly, the sounds of explosions in the distance came echoing down from the mountains. “Sounds like they’ve begun the assault,” Cyrus said. He then reached for the comms. “Alright, get ready everyone,” he announced. “You can expect that signal any moment now.”

As if on cue, the console lit up, signaling an incoming call. Cyrus quickly answered, and the mercenary leader’s face flashed on screen. “We’ve begun our attack,” he informed the  _Maverick_  crew. “Now’s your chance.”

“You heard the man,” Cyrus said, turning to Anya. “Fire her up!”

“You got it, Captain,” Anya said, pressing a few buttons on the console.

The  _Maverick_ ’s engines flared to life and the ship lifted into the air. Anya pushed the throttle forward, rocketing the ship forward. The  _Maverick_  ascended up over the mountains and past the mercenary ships firing on the base. Anya dove the ship down toward the mountainside hangar of Rooker’s base, and slipped it in, maneuvering past the smuggler ships that were flying out.

As the ship ground to a halt, Cyrus aimed the guns at the men closing in around it and lit them up. Any of the men who didn’t immediately dive for cover met with a swift end.

“Axel, Ace, Taraka, on me!” Cyrus shouted as he leapt to his feet. As he was joined by his crew at the loading ramp at the back of the ship, the captain slammed the open button with his fist, and the ramp descended.

Stepping down the ramp, gun drawn, Cyrus could see the handful of remaining mercenaries and smugglers moving in. A smirk appeared on his face as he turned to his crew. “Well, this’ll be fun.”

* * *

The sound of gunfire echoed through the hangar as the  _Maverick_ crew squared off with Rooker’s mercs. Using their ship as cover, they had been able to stay relatively safe while taking down quite a few of their enemies. Taraka took a deep breath as he surveyed the room and watched his crewmates trade shots with Rooker’s men. It was a tense firefight, but only three mercenaries remained.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel shouted as he poked his head out of cover. “Hit that Koffing!” The Alliance mercenary’s Pokemon spit out a lick of flames at one of the enemy mercenaries’ Pokemon, setting it ablaze. The Koffing paid in kind by spitting a ball of toxic sludge at the Charmander, its corrosive toxins burning her hide.

“Flare, Flame Wheel!” Ace followed up with a command of his own. Shrouded in fire, the android’s Ponyta ran up to the burning Koffing, and slammed into it, dealing a hefty blow.

“Arctos, hit that other Koffing!” Taraka ordered his Beartic as he threw up another protective psionic barrier. “Fury Swipes!” The large Pokemon rushed forward, claw bared. Swiping at the floating poison gas Pokemon with his large paws, Arctos landed four solid hits that did a real number on it. Much like the other Koffing, this one too fought back with a blast of sludge, but the Beartic stood up to the attack.

Taraka watched as Cyrus peeked out of cover to take a shot at the opening his Beartic provided, landing a direct shot on the Koffing’s exposed flank.

“Deal with that one!” Taraka suddenly heard one of the mercenaries shout. “Use Bite!” The merc’s Pokemon, a Mightyena, rushed forward and leapt at the captain, sinking its sharp teeth into his arm. Seizing the opening her Pokemon provided, the mercenary took aim at Cyrus as he shoved it off of him.

As the mercenary pulled the trigger, Ace stepped in front of the shot, deflecting it with his energy shield. Between the shield and Taraka’s psionic barrier, the power of the laser blast was mostly mitigated.

Seeing that the captain was alright, Taraka’s attention shifted back to his own safety. The monk was not a moment too soon. He dove to the floor as a laser shot sailed over his head. Looking up, Taraka could see a few shots hitting Axel, but they deflected off the armor that Erik had built for him.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Charmander, directing it after the merc shooting at him. Ritsu unleashed a massive surge of flames as she came to her trainer’s aid. Axel’s assailant wailed in pain as the flames melted through his armor plating. Axel followed up with a burst of flames of his own, bringing the burning mercenary down.

“Flare, Flame Wheel!” Ace ordered his Ponyta. Coating himself over in flames once more, Flare rushed at the Koffing he had been attacking, finishing it off.

“Now for the other one,” Taraka said as he picked himself back up. “Arctos, Brine!” As the monk moved for cover and put up another psionic barrier, his Beartic spit out a huge blast of water, bringing down the other Koffing.

“Target that Beartic!” the female mercenary commanded her Mightyena. The Pokemon leapt at Arctos, teeth bared, but Taraka’s psionic barrier kept him safe. However, focusing his attention on protecting his Pokemon left Taraka’s guard down, and the mercenary took advantage of that, landing a hit on his shoulder. Pain shot through the monk’s arm, but it was fortunately only a glancing blow.

“Stay in cover!” Cyrus shouted to Taraka. “We’ll keep you covered!” The captain let loose a few shots at the mercenary, landing a hit, and then Ace rushed her with his laser sword, cutting a gash through the chest plate of her armor.

“Now Ritsu, finish her off!” Axel yelled. “Use Ember!” With another lick of fire, the Charmander brought the mercenary down, leaving only her Mightyena and one more merc to deal with.

As Axel and Ace focused on the Mightyena, Taraka ran forward and bashed the remaining mercenary in the head with his staff. Dazed, the mercenary stumbled forward, right into the captain’s sights. The man was quickly dispatched with a well placed shot right to the forehead.

“Should’ve worn a helmet,” Cyrus quipped as he stepped out of cover.

Looking back to his crewmates, Taraka saw Ace bash the Mightyena with his shield, bringing it down. “We did it,” the monk said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“This was just one fight,” Cyrus said. “We’re just getting started.”

* * *

After a brief respite to patch their injuries and heal their Pokemon, the  _Maverick_  crew approached the door on the far side of the hangar. “We’re not burning through this one,” Axel said as he observed the big, thick steel blast door.

“Maybe we don’t have to,” Ace said, approaching the door console. The android pressed the button, but nothing happened. “Seems to be locked with a passcode,” he informed his crewmates.

“Come on, damn door, just open!” Axel yelled at the door. Nothing happened. “Well, that didn’t work.”

“ _Really?_ ” Cyrus asked, shaking his head at the Alliance mercenary. “Did you honestly think that would work?”

Axel shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

Glancing back to Ace, Axel saw that the android had pried the console panel off the wall and was now fiddling with the wires. After a few moments, a spark shot out from the open panel, then the door began sliding open. “Yes!” Ace cheered triumphantly.

“Nice work,” Axel said as he stepped through the door.

Taking point, the Alliance mercenary led his crewmates down a winding corridor, up a few flights of stairs, and down yet another corridor. This corridor eventually opened up into a larger room with three more corridors branching off of it. In the middle stood Anton Rooker, surrounded by quite a few of his men.

“Cyrus Drake!” Rooker shouted upon seeing the crew enter. “I should’ve known you were involved in this!”

“I’ve come for you, Rooker!” Cyrus shot back. “You can come quietly, or we can do this the hard way! The choice is yours!”

“I don’t have to waste my time with the likes of you, Drake!” the smuggler shouted. He then turned to the mercenary standing next to him. “Take care of them,” he ordered the armored man before running through the corridor directly across from the  _Maverick_  crew, accompanied by two of his men.

Axel took note of the mercenary’s armor as he stepped forward. The design was not dissimilar from that of his own armor: a full suit of heavy plating that was durable but allowed for mobility. It was painted grey and blue and had a helmet with some sort of breathing apparatus and a bright blue visor. The suit also had a pair of arm-mounted cannons of some sort.

“You’re not going any further today,” the mercenary said as he pulled a Pokeball off his belt and released a Squirtle.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Axel asked.

“The name’s Dane Lory, leader of Maelstrom, the toughest band of mercenaries this side of the Rim!”

“Never heard of ‘em,” Axel replied. “Must not be that tough, then.”

“You’ll certainly remember the name after today. Get ‘em boys!” The two other mercenaries accompanying Lory moved up, weapons drawn.

“Ryner, use Ice Beam!” Axel commanded, turning to his Alakazam. The Crion-native psychic Pokemon unleashed a beam of cold energy at one of the two grunts, completely encasing him in ice.

“Now you’ve done it!” Lory shouted. “Shellshock, use Water Pulse!” the armored mercenary leader’s Squirtle fired off a jet of water at Axel, knocking him back a bit and leaving him dazed. Lory then aimed one of his arm cannons at Cyrus and unleashed his own jet of highly pressurized water.

As his captain dodged out of the way of the attack, Axel regained his bearings, and aimed his flamethrower at Lory and squeezed the trigger, unleashing a torrent of flames. Unlike his enemy, Axel’s attack found its mark.

“Arctos, Icy Wind!” Taraka followed up with a command to his Pokemon. The monk’s Beartic roared as he summoned a blast of freezing air at Lory. Taraka himself then put up another protective barrier to keep his crewmates and their Pokemon safe.

Cyrus, meanwhile, lined up a shot on Lory’s remaining grunt and landed a glancing shot to his arm. The mercenary returned fire, landing a shot of his own. The captain, however, seemed relatively unfazed.

“Blade, Magical Leaf!”

“Ryner, Psybeam!”

“Pull back into your shell!” Lory commanded his Squirtle as Ace’s Kirlia and Axel’s Alakazam fired off a combined assault.

Axel then shifted his focus to Lory himself, firing off another lick of flames and burning through his armor. In response, the mercenary leader pressed a button on his armor and it began to glow as it surrounded itself with a protective shroud of water.  _Damn it,_  Axel thought as the water put out the flames.

“Arctos, Fury Swipes!” Taraka commanded his Beartic as he threw up yet another psionic barrier. Claws bared, Arctos rushed Lory and swiped at him, but only landed a glancing blow that did little more than bounce off his armor.

All the while, Cyrus continued to trade shots with the grunt, both of them landing hits against each other. “I’ve got you covered, Captain!” Ace shouted as he moved up to protect Cyrus with his shield.

“Ryner, Psybeam again!” Axel barked as he glanced back at the Squirtle. His Pokemon obliged and blasted the squirtle, still hiding in its shell, with psychic energy.

“Now Shellshock, Skull Bash!” Lory commanded in response. Popping out of its shell, the Squirtle sprang forward, slamming into Axel’s Alakazam. Axel’s Pokemon stumbled backwards as it was struck with the full force of the Squirtle’s attack.

“Blade, Magical Leaf!” Ace then commanded his Kirlia. His Pokemon summoned two leaves made of pure energy and launched them at the Squirtle, bringing it down.

“Damn you!” Lory shouted angrily as he recalled his Pokemon. He then aimed his cannon at Ace’s Kirlia and fired another jet of water. Luckily for Blade, the mercenary missed once again. Cyrus, however, was perfectly accurate, and brought down Lory’s remaining grunt with a well-placed shot.

“Arctos, Brine!”

“Ryner, us Ice Beam!”

“Blade, Confusion!”

Heeding the commands of their trainers, the  _Maverick_  crew’s Pokemon unleashed their attacks on Lory, doing quite a number on him. Ace then followed up by charging the merc leader, laser sword raised to strike. Ace struck hard and true, severing the hose connected to one of Lory’s arm cannons.

“Rooker ain’t payin’ me enough to deal with this shit!” Lory swore before bolting toward one of the corridors that led back down to the lower part of the base.

“I’ll go after him!” Cyrus shouted as he took off in pursuit. “You guys go after Rooker!”

“But Captain, you’re hurt!” Axel called after him.

“Don’t worry about me!” Cyrus shouted back as he released his Braviary. “I’ll be fine!”

* * *

After reaching the end of the corridor Rooker went through, the  _Maverick_  crew arrived at another heavy steel blast door. “Alright Ace,” Axel said, eyeing the door. “Get this door open.”

Ace approached the door console and hit the button. The door slid open in response. “That was easy,” the android commented as he stepped through the now-open door.

Quickly analyzing the room, Ace noted there was a large window along the back wall that overlooked the hangar where they first entered the base. Anton Rooker stood in the center of the room waiting, flanked by two of his men.

“This is the end of the line for you,” Rooker sneered. The rasp of his voice made the words all the more menacing. “Lory may have failed to stop you, but I won’t.”

“Oh yeah?” Axel shot back. “I’m gonna burn you to a crisp!”

Rooker’s eyes narrowed. “I’d like to see you try.” The smuggler leader grabbed two Pokeballs off his belt and threw out a Weavile and a Scrafty.

Ace ignited his laser sword. He was ready to finally bring down the man who had caused him and his friends so much trouble. The android’s two crewmates moved up behind him and readied themselves for the inevitable fight, Axel hefting up his flamethrower and Taraka sending out his Tangrowth.

“Frost, Ice Punch!” Rooker commanded, pointing at Taraka’s Pokemon. The smuggler’s Weavile sprinted at the Tangrowth, fist raised, and struck the giant mass of vines. Ice radiated out where it made contact, slowly surrounding Roma until she was completely encased.

“Ryner, use Icy Wind!” Axel ordered his Alakazam in response. The icy psychic Pokemon summoned a gust of freezing air at Rooker’s Weavile and the grunt standing behind it, but it didn’t seem to affect them at all.

While Axel focused on the action on the right, Ace focused on the left. “Blade, Confusion!” the android commanded, directing the Pokemon after the other grunt. His Kirlia unleashed a blast of psychic energy at the man. Fighting through the pain of the mental assault, the grunt fired a few shots at Blade, several finding their mark. Ace then recalled his Pokemon and sent out his Ponyta. Flare was much better suited to this fight.

Taraka followed Ace’s example, recalling his frozen Tangrowth and sending out his own Ponyta. “Blaze, Flame Wheel!” the monk commanded as the Ponyta emerged from his ball. “Get that Weavile!” Blaze galloped at Rooker’s Pokemon, coated over in flames, and collided with it, dealing a significant blow. The Ponyta now next to him, the other grunt took a few shots, landing a hit on the Pokemon.

Following the lead of his two companions, Axel recalled his Alakazam and sent out a fire Pokemon of his own, his trusty Charmander. “Brick, use Swagger,” Rooker ordered his Scrafty. “Put that Charmander out of commission!” The smuggler’s Pokemon moved in, making taunting gestures at Ritsu, sending her into a confused rage.

Rooker himself then glared menacingly at Taraka’s Ponyta, causing it to freeze in fear. “Now, Frost, use Night Slash!” the smuggler commanded his Weavile. “Finish it off!” His Pokemon leapt at the vulnerable Ponyta and swiped at him with its razor-sharp claws, bringing him down.

Taraka recalled his fainted Pokemon, then sent out his Togetic and threw up a psionic barrier. “Sirius, use Growl,” the monk ordered his newly released Pokemon, directing it toward the Weavile and the nearby grunt. Sirius flew down at the two and let out an earsplitting wail that left both wincing in pain. The grunt desperately tried to shoot down the Togetic, but in his current state, he was unable to hit her.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his Charmander. “Take out that Weavile!” Unfortunately, in her confused state, Ritsu tripped and hurt herself. “Damn it!” Axel cursed, aiming at the Weavile himself. He squeezed the trigger of his flamethrower, dousing the area in flames, but the swift little Pokemon dodged out of the way.

“Flare, Stomp that guy!” Ace ordered his Ponyta, directing him after the other grunt. His Pokemon galloped at the smuggler and delivered a swift kick, knocking him back. The grunt fired back with his pistol, landing a shot. “Hang on, Flare!” Ace shouted as he ran to his Pokemon’s aid. Swinging his sword with all his might, the android cut a huge gash through the smuggler’s midsection, bringing him down.

“Brick, take that one out!” Rooker commanded his Scrafty in response, pointing at Ace. “High Jump Kick!” He then fired a few shots at Axel with his hand cannon, landing a few good hits. They would have likely brought the mercenary down if not for his armor.

Seeing the Scrafty sprinting at him, Ace readied his shield. The android ducked down as the powerful Pokemon jumped up into the air and lined his shield up to protect himself. Even though the shield absorbed what would have most certainly been a knockout blow, he could still feel the force of the impact rippling through his arm as the Scrafty’s foot slammed down.

Pushing back against the Pokemon, Ace forced it off of himself. “Flare, Flame Wheel!” the android then commanded his own Pokemon. A glowing fireball, his Ponyta came rushing to his aid, slamming into the Scrafty and driving it back.

Getting his bearings again, Ace surveyed the battlefield. Rooker’s Weavile pursued Taraka’s Togetic, attempting to strike it out of the air. While unable to land a hit, the Weavile managed to dive under a fireball from Axel, and then leap over Taraka’s staff as the monk swung it at it.

“Ritsu, get that Weavile!” Axel commanded his Charmander as Rooker’s Pokemon shot past her. “Ember!” Once again, the mercenary’s Pokemon tripped in her dazed state, allowing the Weavile to escape.

“Sirius, Metronome!” Taraka called out to his Pokemon. The Togetic flew up and turned to face her pursuer. She began to glow, summoning rocks as if from nowhere, then dropped them on the Weavile. While Sirius was holding position, the grunt below fired a few shots at her, managing to land one.

“Brick, use Brick Break!” Rooker ordered his Scrafty, pulling Ace’s attention back to where it needed to be. He looked over just in time to see the smuggler leader aiming his pistol at him and quickly raised his shield to deflect the shots. His Ponyta wasn’t so lucky. A strong punch from the Scrafty took the fire horse Pokemon down.

“Frost, Ice Shard!” Rooker followed up with another command. “Take out that damn Togetic!” His Weavile leapt up and and lobbed a shard of ice at Sirius, doing a real number on her. However, before Rooker’s Pokemon even hit the ground, it was consumed by a rush of flames from Axel’s flamethrower, bringing it down.

“Sirius, Fairy Wind!” Taraka directed his Pokemon after the remaining grunt now that she was safe from the Weavile. The Togetic blasted the smuggler with a rush of air, then the monk ran up and bashed him in the gut with his staff. The grunt quickly aimed his gun at Taraka and took a shot before the monk clobbered him over the head, knocking him out cold.

Ace, meanwhile kept his focus on the Scrafty, running up to it and slashing it with his sword. “Brick, Payback!” Rooker commanded the Pokemon in response. As the Scrafty took a swing at him, Ace parried the attack with his shield, keeping himself safe.

Rooker then took a few shots at Axel, but the mercenary dodged out of the way. “Ritsu, Ember!” Axel shouted to his Pokemon. Still dazed, the Charmander once again failed to attack. Axel then fired his flamethrower at Rooker’s Scrafty, setting it alight.

Taking advantage of the window his crewmate had given him, Ace ran up and slashed at the Scrafty again as it moved to go after Taraka. He landed one hit, then swung the sword back for another as the Scrafty leapt into the air. It still wasn’t enough to save Taraka from the attack. The Scrafty’s foot struck Taraka dead on, smashing through the monk’s psionic barrier and launching him across the room.

“Enough of this!” Axel shouted in frustration and anger. “Ritsu, use Ember! Burn that son of a bitch!” Hearing the desperate call of her master, Ritsu snapped to attention and began to glow white hot. She spewed flames from her mouth completely engulfing Rooker. As the fire raged, Ritsu’s glow grew more intense and she began to grow in size, evolving into a Charmeleon.

“Sirius, Metronome!” Taraka called out from across the room as he picked himself back up. His Pokemon began to glow with power, summoning a future attack.

Suddenly, Rooker came running out from the flames, and Axel fired his flamethrower at him. The smuggler moved to avoid the hit, but left himself exposed, or so Ace thought. The android ran up behind Rooker, sword raised, but the smuggler quickly spun around, using his leg to sweep Ace’s feet out from under him.

“Ritsu, use Ember!” Axel commanded his newly evolved Charmeleon as Ace got back on his feet. His Pokemon obliged and spewed more flames at Rooker, setting his coat on fire.

Just then, the attack Sirius had summoned arrived, engulfing the Scrafty in a blinding light. When the light cleared, the Pokemon lay unconscious on the ground. Thinking quickly, Ace rushed Rooker while he was still dazed from the light and struck him with his sword, knocking him to the floor.

“Take that, you bastard!” Axel shouted at the smuggler, delivering a fierce kick to his head that knocked him unconscious.

“We did it!” Ace exclaimed with relief. He was glad it was over and that he and his friends had made it out mostly intact.

“Let’s not do that again,” Taraka said as he walked over to his crewmates, leaning on his staff for support.

“I agree,” Axel said, patting the monk on the back. “Let’s get you back to the ship.”

* * *

“I gotta say, hun, I’m impressed with how quickly you brought Rooker down. The Federation has been after him for years.”

“Well, clearly they weren’t trying very hard,” Cyrus said, smirking back at Darlene. “And we also had a little help.” The  _Maverick_ ’s captain glanced over at the leader of the band of mercenaries who made their assault on Rooker’s base possible.

“You sure we can trust ‘em with this base?” the Sector 32 gym leader asked, eyeing the one-eyed man.

“We couldn’t have done this without his help,” Cyrus said. “And besides, he said he’s planning on moving Rooker’s resources toward more  _legitimate_  ventures.”

“I sure hope yer right, hun.”

“When am I ever wrong, Darlene.”

The captain’s comment got a laugh out of his old friend. “Fair point. At least Rooker’s goin’ away for a long time.” The two of them watched as the handcuffed Rooker was loaded into the Federation frigate that had shown up to collect him by a pair of marines.

“It’s just a shame that Lory guy got away,” Cyrus said.

“Aw, don’t worry ‘bout him, hun,” Darlene said, patting Cyrus on the back. “Maelstrom are small fries. They’re little more than a nuisance out here.”

“Whatever you say, Darlene.”

“Well, I’ll see you around, hun,” Darlene said before following the marines aboard. “Take care of yerself.”

“You too.”

Cyrus then walked over to the mercenary leader before heading back to the  _Maverick_  to give his crew their share of the thirty-thousand credit reward they had earned for taking down Rooker. “Well, Drake, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” the one-eyed mercenary said, extending his hand out.

“Likewise,” Cyrus said as he gave the man’s hand a firm shake. “Good luck with your new operation.”

“And good luck to you and your crew in your future ventures.”

“Until we meet again, then.”

Cyrus turned and began walking back to his ship. The  _Maverick_ ’s captain was more than ready to get back to business as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I’m so glad this one is done. It took me a while to get through since it pulls content from three different sessions! It just made sense to put it all in one chapter. It wasn’t too bad going through the sessions, but it did leave me a long outline to work on and that wasn’t particularly motivating. The stuff from session 9 wasn’t much; we just had a bit of time left over at the end of the session so I just gave the party a tease of the mission to come and let them make a plan so we could jump right into the action the following session. I actually only decided the base was on the planet Crion at the end of Session 9, but since I started work on the writing so far after, I was able to tease this fact in the writing during the crew’s earlier visit to the planet.
> 
> Session 9 material ends right after the ship flies into the hangar. I said I would prep a map for the mission for the following session, but ended up not having the time, so I just winged it as we went along and it all turned out fine. Session 10 covered the first two encounters. It was another shorter session because we ended up starting late for various reasons, and Taraka's player needed to leave a little early. Luckily the fight with Dane Lory ended right when he had to go, so it was a good stopping point. Dane Lory was a character I introduced to be a foil to Axel, his equivalent, but with water instead of fire. You certainly haven’t seen the last of him. Looking back, I wish I built him stronger than I anticipated him needing to be, because the party made short work of him.
> 
> Then it was on to session 11, which was another session that started late. We still had enough time to get to everything I wanted to, though. And this session also marked a huge leap forward in terms of making my job of writing easier. This was the first session we had after the Spacemon sequel campaign began, and I finally took the time to figure out how to start recording video as well as audio for that campaign. Being able to reference what was happening in Roll20 visually was a huge help. I played around with more ways to streamline combat in this session. I actually didn’t track HP at all on the grunts, I just gave them a set number of hits until they went down, and it worked great for this particular encounter, but it wasn’t something I made a habit of doing after this. I sent Cyrus after Lory at the end of the previous session for balancing purposes for the boss fight, and that also worked very well. We got to have some fun with Metronome too. For the second instance, Taraka's player rolled Doom Desire, Jirachi’s signature move, which was quite useful. The dice really hated Axel's player in this session. He missed several times, and he must have failed like 6 confusion checks in a row for Charmander. I totally shut him down with that Swagger. Charmander actually evolved after the encounter was over, but for the writing I thought it made sense to happen in the fight. I also ended up cutting down some parts of the fight, shifting the initiative order around, and changing a few details to make things flow better and not be a tedious read. I’m very happy with how it all turned out. The final scene was not taken from the session recording itself, but I wrote it based on the information I gave the party at the end of the session and made sure to include all of that info in the scene.
> 
> And so we have reached the end of the first arc of Frontier. It was just in time for Thanksgiving too. If it needed to go to another session to finish the mission, we would’ve had to wait two weeks since we didn’t meet on the holiday weekend. Since we wrapped up the arc just before our break, I decided to have a two week time skip in game to match the two week gap in real life. And that’s where we will pick up in the next chapter as we begin the next phase of the Spacemon: Frontier story.


	16. The Shadow

“Thank you for your assistance, Samir,” Taraka said, bowing his head. “Your information is most appreciated.”

The younger monk he was speaking with bowed in turn. “You are quite welcome,” he said. “I hope it helps you to find what you are looking for.”

Taraka smiled. “As do I.”

With that, the two monks parted ways. Taraka turned and descended the nearby stairway back down to the market streets. He stepped back into the throngs of people milling about between the various stalls, browsing the wares of the merchants and traders.

Taraka hurried on his way to meet up with the rest of his crewmates as he did not wish to hold them up any longer. It had been two weeks since they had taken Rooker down and things had returned to business as usual on the  _Maverick_. Between jobs, the ship’s crew had come to this world, known as Khalimuck, in order for the monk to pursue leads that might lead him to the next stop on his pilgrimage and he did not want to keep them waiting on his account. Khalimuck was one of the most populous planets in Outer Rim Sector 33 and was a melting pot of cultures due to its close proximity to both Sinai and Alliance space. Due to its location, Khalimuck saw lots of Sinai monks and Outer Rim traders, merchants, and explorers passing through.

Taraka had come here hoping that someone might be able to provide him with information on ruins in that region of space. The monk’s gamble had paid off as he had met a monk by the name of Samir who had come across ruins in the surrounding areas during his own pilgrimage. As was common amongst monks on their pilgrimages, Taraka and Samir had compared notes and shared information that the thought might help each other along their individual journeys. As Samir was telling Taraka of the ruins he had visited, one particular site in Sector 34 caught his attention. The younger monk’s description perfectly matched that of the ruins on the planet on the other end of the sector where Taraka and the rest of the Maverick crew had discovered Ace as well as those on the swamp planet where Taraka had received his first scroll vision.

With this new information, Taraka was eager to get back to the ship and inform his crewmates that he had found a lead. As he made his way through the market, the monk spotted Axel speaking with a merchant at one of the stalls and walked over to him.

“If we find anything, we’ll be sure to let you know,” Taraka heard the mercenary say as he approached.

“Much appreciated,” the merchant replied.

Axel nodded at the man, then turned to walk away and spotted Taraka approaching. “Any luck?” he asked the monk.

“I may have found something,” Taraka explained. “I was informed of some ruins that sound like what I’m looking for.”

“Good to hear,” Axel said. “Because I may have found us our next paycheck.” The mercenary nodded in the direction of the merchant he had just been speaking with. “This guy is looking for rare artifacts and ancient tech from ruins,” he elaborated. “Said he’s willing to pay handsomely.”

“I’m sure the captain will be happy to hear that,” Taraka replied as the two made their way through the crowded market.

“Oh, I’m counting on it,” Axel said, slapping his companion on the back.

* * *

Axel gathered with the rest of the  _Maverick_  crew near the front of the ship as it got close to dropping out of warp space at its destination. Moments later, the mercenary felt the  _Maverick_  lurch as it did just that.

“We’re here,” Anya’s voice sounded from the cockpit.

Axel glanced out the viewport only to see the vast vacuum of space. “Where is it?” he asked. “There’s nothing here”

“You’re looking out the wrong window,” Ace said. The android shook his head and pointed to the starboard viewport.

Looking out the proper viewport, Axel saw a mostly green and brown planet. “That’d do it,” the mercenary said, laughing.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here,” Cyrus said. “Ace, man the scanners and see if you can find our ruins.”

“You got it,” the android replied. He walked over to the appropriate console and fired up the scanners.

For the next several minutes, Axel watched over Ace’s shoulder as the scanners did their thing. There really didn’t seem to be much to this planet.

“Got something,” Ace eventually announced. “Here, in this canyon,” he said pointing to the readout on the screen.

“That’s got to be it,” Cyrus said. “Anya, bring us down.”

As the ship descended into the planet’s atmosphere, Axel got a much better look at its surface. It was mostly covered and wide sweeping plains dotted with rocky outcroppings and canyons. Once the ship was close to the ground, he caught sight of a herd of Rhyhorn grazing. Their heads perked up as the  _Maverick_  passed over them.

Eventually the  _Maverick_  came to a stop over a large canyon and began to descend. The ship soon touched down in a flat region between the two large cliff faces and Axel caught sight of the ruins, which were built into the cliffs. The architecture indeed looked very similar to that of the last few sights that they had visited.

“Let’s get to it, boys,” the captain said before heading for the airlock.

Stepping out onto the planet’s surface, Axel spotted a Sinai meditation sphere parked nearby. “Looks like someone else is here,” he commented.

“Another monk, it seems,” Taraka said. “Perhaps they can tells us more about this place.”

“We’ll see,” Cyrus said. “Let’s get moving.” The  _Maverick_ ’s captain began walking towards the ruins with Axel, Taraka, and Ace close behind.

“Guys, let’s be careful this time,” Axel said as they approached the darkened entrance. “The last time we were in a place like this, we had to fight a bunch of ghosts.”

“What’s this?” Cyrus asked, a sly smirk on his face. “You’re actually exercising caution for once? Not afraid of a few ghosts, are ya?”

“Of course not,” Axel replied. “I’m just looking out for you guys.”

“Good to hear. Now, how about taking point, tough guy?” The captain slapped Axel on the back and pushed him forward slightly.

“You got it, boss,” the mercenary replied. He unhooked a Pokeball from his belt as he stepped forward into the darkness. He tossed the ball forward, and the area was soon lit by the light of his Charmeleon’s tail. Looking around the illuminated area, Axel determined that he seemed to be standing in a wide corridor. “Looks safe enough,” he said, turning back to his crewmates. He waved them to follow. “Alright guys, let’s move ahead.”

“You three go,” Cyrus said. “I’m gonna check out the rest of the canyon.”

“Sounds good,” Axel replied. “We’ll meet you back here in a few hours.” With that, Axel pressed forward into the darkness with his Charmeleon at his side and Taraka and Ace close behind him.

After several minutes of walking, the corridor emptied out into what seemed to be a large, open atrium that stretched up above, far past Axel’s line of sight. The flame on the end of Ritsu’s tail barely lit a fraction of the chamber. All the mercenary could see was a pair of large columns reaching up into the darkness. “Ritsu, light it up!” he commanded his Charmeleon. His Pokemon obliged and spit a large jet of flame upward into the air, lighting up a much wider area.

Suddenly, a loud screeching roar sounded from high above, echoing down through the atrium. It was then followed by a heavy flapping noise somewhere in the dark.

“Nice going,” Ace said as he sent out his Kirlia. “You woke something big up.” Taraka followed suit and released his Shuppet as well.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to fight it,” Axel replied. “Ritsu, you know what to do!” His Pokemon spit out another jet of fire, revealing an Aerodactyl circling above.

In response to the flames, the massive winged beast let out another roar and dove down at the  _Maverick_  crew and their Pokemon. The ground shook as the Aerodactyl landed, kicking up rocks and dirt in all directions and blasting the crew’s Pokemon backwards.

“Ritsu, Flamethrower!” Axel ordered his Pokemon. Regaining her footing, the Charmeleon spit out a jet of fire at the Aerodactyl. Axel then recalled her and switched out to his Alakazam.

Meanwhile, Axel’s crewmates prepared their defenses. Taraka threw up a protective psionic barrier around them and Ace activated his energy shield. The two then ordered their Pokemon to strike.

The Aerodactyl let out another ear-splitting screech as it was pelted with attacks. With a powerful flap of its wings, the Pokemon lifted off the ground. It then grabbed Ace’s Kirlia in one of its claws before flying high up into the air. “Blade, get out of there!” Ace commanded his Pokemon. The Kirlia didn’t need to be told twice. His Pokemon teleported out of his assailant’s grasp, back to the safety of the ground.

“Quick, strengthen the barrier before it comes back!” Axel shouted. “Ryner, use Reflect!” Working together, the mercenary’s Pokemon and Taraka poured their energy into the protective barrier around them, hardening it against their attacker. It was just in time too; the Aerodactyl soon dove back down at them, but it was driven back by the barrier.

“Ryner, use Icy Wind!” Axel then commanded his Alakazam. The Aerodactyl flew out of the way as Ryner blasted freezing cold air at it. Axel then followed up with a blast from his flamethrower, but the Aerodactyl dodged that as well. “I can’t get a hit on this thing!” he shouted in frustration.

“Let’s see it dodge this!” Taraka shouted back. “Spooperz, use Feint Attack!” The monk’s Shuppet floated up to the Aerodactyl and lashed out at it. The attack, however, seemed to do little more than anger the beast. The enraged Pokemon snapped at the ghostly Pokemon, crushing her with its powerful jaws. It was more than enough to bring the Shuppet down.

“Blade, Confusion!” Ace commanded his Kirlia. Blade blasted the Aerodactyl with psychic energy and it finally seemed to start wearing out.

Taraka was quick to seize the opportunity, lobbing a Great Ball at the Aerodactyl. The large winged Pokemon was pulled into the ball, but it quickly broke out.  _Good idea_ , Axel thought. Following his crewmate’s example he threw a ball of his own. Unfortunately, he completely missed his mark. Ace had a little more success, but as with the ball Taraka threw, the Aerodactyl broke free. Looking even angrier than before, the enraged Pokemon lashed out at the nearest thing it could reach, in this case Axel’s Alakazam. Fortunately, the psionic barrier protected the Pokemon from the Aerodactyl’s razor sharp teeth.

“We need to hit it some more,” Ace said. “Blade, Magical Leaf!” His Kirlia fired off another attack, further whittling the Aerodactyl down.

Taraka quickly threw another ball at the Aerodactyl as soon as the attack landed. With the violent Pokemon inside it, the ball fell to the ground. It shook once … twice … then fell still.

“Nice work,” Axel commended his crewmate as he watched him walk over to claim his prize. “That thing will come in handy the next time a giant Pokemon attacks us in some ruins.”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t keep waking them up,” Ace commented.

“How else are we gonna catch them if we don’t get their attention first?” Axel asked his robotic crewmate.

Axel watched a smile creep onto Taraka’s face. “He does have a point,” the monk said.

“Fair enough,” Ace agreed as he deactivated his shield.

* * *

After gathering their bearings, the  _Maverick_ crew pressed on. Axel once again took point, his Charmeleon once more at his side. On the far side of the atrium they discovered another corridor entrance that led further into the ruins. Following the corridor they arrived at a fork, one passageway leading to the right and another to the left.

“Which way should we go?” Ace asked.

“Let’s go left,” Axel decided for the group. He immediately began walking in that direction without waiting for the input of his crewmates.

Moving down the corridor, the trio came to a slightly spiraling staircase that led down, deeper into the ruins. They descended, eventually arriving at the bottom. Following a network of mostly collapsed corridors, their path soon opened up into a room scattered with pieces of ancient technology.

“Jackpot!” Axel exclaimed, a smile coming to his face as he thought of how much money they were going to make. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”

After scouring the room, the trio determined that most of the objects in the room were merely scraps, but would still be valuable as salvage. There was, however, one piece of tech that seemed to be intact. Axel picked up the rectangular object and began to examine it.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Ace asked.

“Of course I do,” Axel replied. He hit the object with his fist and a console lit up. “See. Now … how does this function?” He examined the object for a few more moments and then shouted, “I command you, machine, to turn on and tell me what you do!”

Nothing happened.

“Well, it’s not voice activated,” he concluded.

There was a metallic clank as Ace buried his face in his palm.

“What?” Axel asked. “I don’t see you coming up with any ideas.”

“Did you try touching the screen?” the android suggested.

“Good idea,” Axel said. He touched a finger to the screen and several symbols appeared, They were unlike anything he had ever seen. “Hey, Taraka, can you read this?”

The monk took the object off Axel’s hands and began to examine it for himself. “It’s definitely writing,” he concluded. “But I’ve never seen this language before.”

“Well, that’s not very helpful.”

“I’m pretty sure these are labels for buttons,” Taraka continued. He pointed to four distinct patterns of symbols that did, in fact, appear to be arranged like buttons. “I can’t read them, though, so I have no idea what their functions might be.”

“Whatever this thing is, it’s probably worth a lot of money,” Axel said. He placed the object into his pack with the rest of the salvage, then turned toward the room’s exit. “Alright guys, let’s see what else we can break.”

“Let’s try not to break everything,” Taraka said. “Let’s just keep looking.”

Axel shrugged. “It seemed more effective than trying to play nice with it.”

“It works sometimes, but you are going to end up locking us in a cave or something eventually.”

“Whatever you say, Taraka,” Axel dismissed his comment. “Now, let’s head back up and see where that other passage leads.”

* * *

After taking the right-hand passageway, the  _Maverick_  crew arrived at another staircase, this one leading upwards. Following behind Axel, who was still leading the way, Taraka soon found himself on a balcony looking out over the atrium. It was difficult to see through the darkness, but the monk could just make out the columns supporting the structure.

Opposite of the balcony, across the passage leading from the stairs, was another corridor that led further into the ruins. Moving down this corridor, Taraka saw light up ahead. Eventually, the corridor emptied out into a chamber that very much reminded him of the one in the swamp ruins where he had received his last vision. The vaulted ceiling led up to a hole open to the sky that allowed the sunlight to shine down upon a pedestal in the center of the room.

As he scanned the room with his eyes, Taraka saw something that should not be there. A body lay on the floor near the pedestal. Beside it, a shadowy figure was crouched over it, seeming to search it. The figure, whatever it was, hadn’t seemed to notice them. Taraka subtly gestured to his crewmates and pointed the figure out to them.

“Hey!” Axel called out. “Who’s there?!”

The figure immediately looked up at them. It stared at them for a few seconds, and then vanished!

Axel quickly ran forward to where the figure had been. “Where did they go?!”

“Whoever they were, you scared them off,” Taraka said, walking up behind him.

Taraka approached the body on the floor and knelt beside it. It looked to be a fellow monk, a few years older than Taraka himself. There was a deep stab wound in his chest and Taraka could not detect a pulse. Taraka had never met this man before, but he felt a sadness within him.

“Who is he?” Axel asked.

“I do not know,” Taraka replied.

“Let’s find out.” Axel began searching the body and soon pulled out a Pokedex, as well as two Pokeballs. “Shareef Patil,” the mercenary read from the Dex. “That name mean anything to you?”

Taraka shook his head. “No,” the monk said. “If I were to guess by his age, I would say he was on his pilgrimage too,” he continued. “You didn’t find a scroll on him, did you?”

“No,” Axel answered. “This was it.”

“Strange.”

“Doesn’t it look like there should be something here?” Ace spoke up. Taraka looked over to see his robotic crewmate examining the pedestal closely.

“Maybe that person took it?” Axel suggested.

“Maybe,” Taraka said. It was certainly a possibility.

“I think we should get back to the ship and tell the captain about this,” Axel said after a few moments.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Ace agreed.

Taraka got back to his face and looked at his two crewmates. “Very well.”

* * *

“How disturbing.” Taraka watched Cyrus stroke his facial scruff as he pondered the information his crew had just shared with him. “The scanners didn’t pick up another ship either.”

“What do you think we should do, boss?” Axel asked.

“We should contact the proper authorities and let them sort this out,” the captain said.

“I would also like to inform the order of this,” Taraka said.

“Let’s deal with the Federation first, then we can contact them,” Cyrus replied.

Taraka nodded. “As you wish.”

“I’ll handle this,” the captain continued. “You three go and relax. You’ve earned it after finding all that salvage.”

“Thanks, boss,” Axel said. He then turned to Ace and Taraka. “How about we go look for some Pokemon?”

“I would enjoy that,” Taraka agreed.

“What about you, Ace?”

“I think I’ll sit this one out,” the android replied.

“Suit yourself. C’mon Taraka, let’s see what we can find.”

* * *

After wandering a ways away from the ship, Axel was starting to feel like there weren’t any Pokemon in the canyon. It was a bit sparse in vegetation, so the wild Pokemon of this world probably didn’t venture down here. He was considering turning back when a Pokemon cry caught his attention.

“Look there,” Taraka said.

Axel looked to where the monk was pointing and saw three Spearows perched on a fallen tree. “Might be all we’re gonna find,” the mercenary said.

Axel unhooked his Charmeleon’s Pokeball from his belt and sent her out. Taraka nodded and sent out his Ponyta as well. Meanwhile, the three bird Pokemon continued to pay them no mind.

“Ritsu, use Flamethrower!” Axel commanded. His Charmeleon spit out a huge surge of flames at one of the Spearows, completely immolating it. As the bird Pokemon dropped to the ground, the other two flew up into the air, squawking angrily.

“Blaze, Ember,” Taraka ordered his own Pokemon. The Ponyta spat out another jet of flame at one of the other Spearows, landing a hit. The Spearow squawked again, then dove at its assailant. The Ponyta, however, maneuvered out of the way of the incoming strike. Taraka then threw a Pokeball at the Spearow, but it broke free.

Meanwhile, the other Spearow flew after Ritsu, striking Axel’s Charmeleon with its beak. Axel fired his flamethrower at it to drive it back, but couldn’t land a hit. He did succeed in distracting it, however. Seizing the opportunity, Ritsu leapt up into the air and wrapped her flaming jaws around it, finishing it off.

As the remaining Spearow and his Ponyta continued to trade blows, Taraka attempted another capture. Once more, the Pokemon broke free. Axel then attempted a capture of his own, but the angered bird Pokemon did not want to get caught.

Having had enough of this tussel, Axel ordered his Pokemon to attack. “Ritsu, Flamethrower!” As she prepared to attack, Ritsu began glowing white hot. The glow intensified and the Charmeleon began to change shape. Ritsu, now a Charizard, expelled the stored up energy in a massive torrent of flames that engulfed the Spearow.

When the flames cleared, only a charred husk remained. Ritsu let out a triumphant roar, then stomped forward and proceeded to devour her prey. Axel looked on with a proud smile on his face as he watched his Pokemon eat her meal. All those months of training her had finally paid off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we’re back! We took a two week break for Thanksgiving after the previous session, which worked out nicely since we had just finished the first plot arc. Because of that fact, I decided to have a time skip of the same length in the story as well. It ended up being a much longer break between chapter postings though; it’s been months since I posted a Frontier chapter. And so begins the next plot arc.
> 
> The first scene is synthesized from a few descriptions I provided the party to bring everyone back in. I just gave it a bunch of narrative polish here to make it all flow nicely. I wanted to get the players back into the action quickly so I gave them some hooks to send them on their way. Beyond that, though, I didn’t plan anything too in depth ahead of time because I wanted to work on my improv GMing. The planet was randomly generated and I made up the ruins as I went along, except for the final bit because it was part of the narrative of the new plot arc.
> 
> They looked for Pokemon right when they entered the ruins and rolled really well so I decided to turn the encounter into a mini boss fight. I had fun with the Aerodactyl fight even though they kind of wrecked it even though it was much higher level. It really came down to Taraka's player getting a really fantastic capture roll of -1.
> 
> Unfortunately, not everyone was engaged. Ace's player totally zoned out and ended up leaving an hour early. We had already discussed it a couple times before this, and after sorting out our frustrations, we amicably decided between this session and the next that he would drop out of the campaign because he wasn’t having fun and the other players and I felt that it would be better to have a player who was engaged with the game. Fortunately, I had already been looking to add a fourth player before this session and already had one lined up to join for the next one. So, this was the last session he ran Ace. However, I had developed some plot points around Ace and knew I was going to be writing this campaign up and wanted to have a strong narrative, so going forward I reworked Ace as one of the major NPCs on the ship alongside Cyrus, Anya, and Erik. That is, until he was picked up by a new player way later on in the campaign.
> 
> Since Ace's player left early and we didn’t know yet that he was going to drop out, we didn’t want to press on with the plot. Instead Axel's player and Taraka's player opted to look for Pokemon, mostly because Axel's player wanted to evolve his Charmeleon. They rolled crap so I threw a few low level Spearows at them, which proved to be hilarious. By this point, Axel’s Charmeleon was a beast compared to everything, so it straight up killed all the weak Spearows. It was an amusing end to the session.


	17. The Wandering Craftsman

“This news is most saddening. A monk’s life cut short before he could complete the most important journey of his life.”

“Indeed,” Taraka said, nodding his head in agreement at the elderly monk displayed on the holoscreen of the  _Maverick_ ’s comms terminal.

“And what of Brother Shareef’s Pokemon?” the older monk asked.

“They are unharmed,” Taraka answered. “I intend to release them back into the wild. I know a planet that is well suited to fighting types.”

“I am am sure he would approve.”

The old monk then fell silent, as if in deep thought. “Tell me, Brother Taraka,” he eventually said. “Were you able to recover Brother Shareef’s scroll?”

Taraka bowed his head. “I am afraid not,” he answered. “It was not on his person, nor amongst his possessions aboard his meditation sphere.”

“I see,” the older monk on the other end of the call said.

“I believe that it was taken by the killer,” Taraka continued.

The old monk stroked his long white beard. “Hmm. Most disturbing. Let us hope the Federation authorities apprehend this killer swiftly.”

“If it is alright, I would like to continue looking into this as well,” Taraka said.

“Your business while on your pilgrimage is your own, Brother Taraka. You are free to follow the path you choose, but be careful.”

“I intend to.”

“Good. Good. I wish you well, Brother Taraka.”

Taraka bowed in respect. “Thank you.” The screen then went black as the call ended. Taraka took in a deep breath, then turned away from the comms terminal.

Once the Federation investigators had arrived on the scene and begun their investigation, Taraka had contacted the Congregate to inform them of Shareef Patil’s death, as well as his own plan to investigate the mysterious shadowy figure. The Congregate seemed content to wait for the Federation authorities to carry out their investigation, but something about that figure deeply bothered Taraka. He knew he wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t look into this matter for himself.

As soon as possible, Taraka wished to begin searching for clues as to the identity of the mysterious figure, but first there was business to attend to. The monk looked down at the Pokeballs in his hands; they contained Shareef Patil’s Pokemon, a Lucario and a Medicham. He wanted to take them to Meridian, a planet he knew was home to many fighting type Pokemon, so that he could release them into the wild. Taraka knew they would be happy there.

Taraka placed the Pokeballs into his pocket, then departed from the room. He needed to find the captain and inform him of his plan.

* * *

 “Go and be free,” Taraka said as he looked into the eyes of the two Pokemon that formerly belonged to Shareef Patil. Through his own psionic abilities, as well as the unique capabilities of Lucario and Medicham, the monk could sense the two Pokemon could understand his desire for them to go free and find peace on this world.

After this brief shared moment, the Pokemon turned away from the lake shore and headed for the treeline of the jungle. A somber smile appeared on Taraka’s face as he watched the Lucario and Medicham disappear into the foliage. Even though their trainer had passed on, the monk knew they would be able to thrive on this world amongst the Machamps, Pangoros, and other fighting type Pokemon he knew to dwell in the jungles of Meridian.

Once they had gone, Taraka began the trek back to the Fortuna spaceport. The jungle lake where the monk had released the Pokemon back into the wild was a ways away from the settlement, at the end of a winding path leading down the cliffs into the dense jungle and along the banks of the river. It had seemed a good place to release them, and Taraka certainly didn’t mind the peaceful walk through nature.

A good hour or so later, Taraka walked into the spaceport. After the long hike down to the lake and back, he was eager to return to the  _Maverick_ and rest. As he crossed the spaceport’s atrium, headed in the direction of the landing platforms, Taraka’s attention was captured by a well-dressed man manning a curio table nearby other merchants selling their wares. This tall, bearded, dark-haired man seemed particularly out of place amongst the usual Outer Rim merchants and traders one expected to find in a colony spaceport.

As Taraka passed, the man seemed to catch his gaze. “Right this way, good sir!” he exclaimed, a posh Genevan accent quite apparent. “See for yourself what I have to offer!” he continued, waving the monk over.

More curious than anything, Taraka approached the man and his curio table. The man, who did not appear to be that much older than Taraka himself, looked expectantly at him as the monk stepped up to the table. Examining the goods on display, Taraka noted what seemed to be brightly colored gemstones and what he could only assume were Pokemon accessories. Again, Taraka noted how out of place this man and his wares seemed to be in this spaceport. Intrigued, Taraka looked up from the table. “Is there any reason someone such as yourself is out here selling his wares all by himself?” he asked.

“Well, that is an interesting story,” the man replied, chuckling slightly. “You see, the ship I originally purchased passage on left before I was done selling my wares on this world, and I have been trying to scrounge up money to continue my peddler’s journey. I’ve been here for about a week and no ships have been able to take me anywhere.”

Having been in similar situations himself before he found his way onto the  _Maverick_ , Taraka felt for this man. He knew he had to do what he could to help him. “I don’t have a ship, but I am part of a crew,” the monk explained. “We might have room for another passenger, but I am not sure; I will need to check with my captain and see if he is open to taking you to where you need to go.”

The man’s eyes lit up at Taraka’s words. “That would be splendid, sir! Absolutely splendid! Thank you!”

Taraka smiled. “I am happy to assist,” he said. “Our ship is docked just over there,” the monk continued, motioning towards the landing platforms.

“Wonderful,” the man said cheerfully. “Allow me a moment to gather my things.”

“Of course,” Taraka said, nodding.

A few short minutes later, the man had his curio table and wares packed away. “That should do it,” he said. “Lead the way my new friend!”

“Tell me, stranger,” Taraka said as they began making their way toward the ship. “What is your name?”

The man smiled and extended his hand. “Roland Mercette, at your service.”

* * *

Captain Cyrus Drake lay on his bed in his quarters aboard the  _UAS Maverick_  as he awaited Taraka’s return. He was eager to depart for Khalimuck to unload the salvage his crew had gathered on their last stop and get paid, but he was making use of the downtime on Meridian to get in some relaxation. As much as he was used to squeezing his rest in where he could between jobs, the  _Maverick_ ’s captain appreciated the peace and quiet of a ship docked at port, its normally droning engines silent. This was a rare occurrence aboard his ship, so he was certainly going to make the most of it.

“Captain!” Cyrus suddenly heard Taraka call out. “Are you here?”

Cyrus sat up and got to his feet, then exited the room. “Right here,” he said as he stepped out into the ship’s main corridor. The monk was standing near the airlock, accompanied by a tall man with a neatly trimmed and combed beard. “Who’s your friend here?”

“This is Roland,” Taraka introduced the man to Cyrus. “He’s looking for passage off this planet. Roland, this is Cyrus Drake, the captain of this ship.”

“A pleasure to meet you, sir,” Roland said, offering his hand.

Cyrus nodded and shook the man’s hand. He seemed to be quite friendly. “Where ya headed?” Cyrus asked.

“Nowhere in particular,” Roland said. “I have been traveling from world to world, selling my wares.”

“Oh, so you’re a merchant?”

“Among other things, yes. I am also an archaeologist and a craftsman. I collect artifacts and such and craft my own goods to sell and pay my way across the stars. Unfortunately, the last ship I booked passage on left without me and I do not have the funds to afford another.” Roland then turned to Taraka. “Your friend here tells me that you offered him passage in exchange for his services.”

Cyrus nodded. “That I did. Let me guess, you were hoping for a similar arrangement?”

“If it is not too much trouble,” Roland said.

“Let’s say I’m interested,” Cyrus said. “What services would I be getting in return?”

“I can offer my skills as a craftsman free of charge,” Roland replied. “I can make items to aid your Pokemon in combat, or simply make them look stylish. Or perhaps, if I can find customers on the planets we visit, I can split my profits with you.”

Cyrus smiled and offered his hand. “Alright, Roland, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Roland gladly accepted and gave the captain’s hand a firm shake. “Thank you kindly, sir!”

“Don’t mention it,” Cyrus said. “We’ve got an extra room, anyway,” he added, motioning to the empty room between Taraka’s and the med bay. He walked over and tapped the console, then waved Roland inside as the door slid open. “It’s all yours.”

“Splendid!” Roland exclaimed, stepping into the room. He set his bags down, then took a seat on the bed. “At last, a bed of my own again. It will be good to no longer be sleeping on the streets, under my curio table.”

“I would imagine so,” Cyrus said, letting out a chuckle. “Go ahead and get yourself settled in. I’ll give you a tour later and introduce you to the rest of the crew if you like.”

“That would be most enjoyable!”

* * *

As the  _UAS Maverick_  flew through warp space en route to its next destination, Roland walked through the corridors of his new means of transport accompanied by the ship’s captain. Cyrus led the way as they stepped out of the cargo bay, which had been the first stop on the tour pointing out the rooms as they passed them by.

“Med bay’s here next to your room,” the captain said. “And Taraka’s room on the other side of yours.” He then approached the room directly across the corridor from Taraka’s. “And this is Axel’s room,” he said before knocking on the door. “Hmm, guess he’s still asleep,” the captain said after a few moments. “The guy sleeps like a log, so no point trying to wake him. You’ll meet him later.”

“I’m sure I will,” Roland commented.

“Watch out for him, though,” Cyrus added with a laugh. “He’s got a short fuse and likes to burn things.”

“Noted,” Roland replied with a chuckle of his own. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“This room belongs to Erik, our engineer,” Cyrus continued, pointing out the next one over. “He’s usually in his workshop,” he said, leading Roland into the room across from the med bay.

Entering the room, Roland saw a man with a thick mustache, who he could only assume was Erik, giving a humanoid-looking robot a tune-up. Both the man and the robot looked up at him and the captain as they entered.

“Who’s this guy?” the robot asked. Its voice was surprisingly realistic, which caught Roland by surprise.

“Oh shit,” Cyrus cursed. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag here. This is Roland; he’s going to be traveling with us for a while. Roland, meet Erik Virtanen, the  _Maverick_ ’s engineer.”

“How do you do, sir?” Roland asked, nodding at Erik.

“And this is Ace,” the captain continued, nodding over at the robot. “An android we discovered in some ancient ruins.” His tone then became quite serious. “This is a secret that is not to leave this ship. He’s a sentient being and our friend, and we don’t want him to become the subject of unethical experiments.”

“Of course. Of course!” Roland replied in his typical jolly tone. “It is a pleasure to meet you both and you have my word that my lips are sealed on this matter.”

“Then I think we’re going to get along just fine, Roland,” Erik said, offering his hand.

“I’m sure we are, sir,” Roland agreed, giving the engineer’s hand a firm shake.

“I’m glad that all worked out,” Cyrus said. “Now, come on, I’ll show you the rest of the ship.”

“Lead on, sir!”

Over the next few minutes, the  _Maverick_ ’s captain led Roland through the rest of the ship, pointing out his own quarters and those of the ship’s pilot, showing him around the living quarters, and finally bringing him to the front of the ship to meet the pilot herself.

“This is our pilot, Anya,” Cyrus said, introducing Roland to the young Romanov woman who was responsible for flying the  _Maverick_.

“Roland Mercette, at your service.”

“Hello,” Anya replied.

“I must say, I did not expect to find someone so young piloting a ship such as this,” Roland commented.

A slight smirk appeared on the pilot’s face. “I get that a lot,” she said. “But don’t you worry. I’ve been piloting since I was a teenager; I know what I’m doing.”

Roland let out a jolly laugh. “Most excellent.”

“Definitely,” Cyrus said. “I couldn’t ask for a better pilot.”

“So, if I may ask, where are we headed to next?” Roland asked after a few moments.

“Khalimuck,” Cyrus answered.

“Fantastic!” Roland exclaimed. “I am sure I will have more success selling my wares there than Meridian.”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Cyrus said. “We already have a buyer there lined up for the salvage we pulled out of the ruins we visited a few days back.”

“Salvage, you say?” Roland said. “What kind of salvage?”

“Oh, you know, ancient tech and that sort of this,” Cyrus explained. “We even found a piece that still seems functional, not that we know what it does,” he added, letting out a laugh.

“I see,” Roland said. “As an archaeologist, I might be able to tell you more about it if I could get a look at it.”

“Sure,” the  _Maverick_ ’s captain replied. “You can take a look if you want. Follow me.”

* * *

“Here it is,” Cyrus Drake said as he pulled a rectangular object out of a crate full of salvage in the  _Maverick_ ’s cargo hold. The captain handed it to Roland, who began to examine it. “The boys here can probably tell you more about it,” he continued, looking over at Ace and Taraka, who had accompanied them. “I wasn’t there when they found it.”

“Hmm,” Roland said as he looked the object in his hands over. There was not much of note about the thing except for some kind of panel with what looked like four buttons arranged in a grid pattern. “Well, it’s certainly technological in nature,” he observed. “But I’m afraid I cannot say more. What else can you tell me about this item?”

“We found it in some ruins that appear to be related to some sites we have visited in the past,” Taraka said. “Including the location where we found Ace.”

“So then you might know more about this?” Roland asked, looking over at Ace.

“I don’t remember anything from before these guys reactivated me,” the android explained.

“Most unfortunate,” Roland said. “Most unfortunate. Well, my intriguing new friend, perhaps this artifact might trigger a memory or something.”

Roland handed the object to Ace, who looked at it for a few moments before shaking his head. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” the android said, passing the object back to Roland.

“Hmm,” Roland said, looking Ace over. “Perhaps you have a port or something to insert it into?”

“Watch where you go inserting things,” Ace warned, eyeing Roland cautiously.

Roland let out a laugh. “Oh, believe me, my friend, I wouldn’t insert anything into a sentient being without consent. This does seem to be a bust, however. Perhaps the merchant you are selling it to knows what it is.”

“I believe that to be unlikely,” Taraka said. “We should just sell it and be done with it.”

“Isn’t that a dangerous idea?” Roland asked the monk. “We should test this thing first. We should try pressing these buttons and see what they do.”

“We might want to get off the ship before we try that,” Taraka pointed out.

Roland laughed again. “Right you are my friend. That’s probably a good idea. We wouldn’t want to release a plague or something of that sort on a contained spaceship.”

“Definitely not,” Cyrus chimed in. “No destroying my ship.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir,” Roland said. “We should find a barren world to test this object on.”

“Good idea,” the captain said. “There’s an uninhabited planet in the same system as Khalimuck. I’ll tell Anya to divert us there before we make our delivery.”

“Most excellent!” Roland exclaimed. “A fine plan indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the revolving door of players has begun. This session was the first after Ace's player dropped out of the campaign and the first to feature our new player in the role of Roland. I was glad to have a relatively seamless transition. Axel's player was unable to make it to this session so it was just Taraka's player and the new guy. I quickly wrapped things up on the planet from the previous session and got the ship back to a civilized planet to bring in the new player so he wasn’t sitting around for too long. Unfortunately, I forgot to start recording again, so everything that happened before Taraka and Roland met was lost. Over a year later when I sat down to write this, I had completely forgotten what had happened, so I had to make it up. I’m happy with how it turned out. There is still more to the session, but it made sense to break the chapters up here, leaving this one to focus on Roland’s introduction to the Maverick crew.


	18. A Grassy Encounter

When the  _UAS Maverick_  dropped out of warp space in the Devima system in Sector 33, instead of proceeding to Khalimuck, the ship diverted to Verdant, the next planet out from the bright star at the center of the system. True to its name, Verdant was a small green world covered in vast grasslands. As the  _Maverick_ descended, Roland looked out the viewport over the plains stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was a vast emerald ocean, waves of grass rippling along its surface as the blades were teased by the wind.

“This a good enough test site for ya?”

Roland turned to see Captain Cyrus Drake walking up behind him. “Most certainly,” the merchant said with a nod before turning back to the viewport. “And quite the view, I must say.”

“I suppose it is … if grass is your thing.” Cyrus laughed as he walked up next to Roland to look out the viewport himself. “There’s certainly nothing else to see here. That’s probably why they settled Khalimuck instead of this place.”

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Roland agreed. “I’m sure it is.”

Moments later, the ship came to a stop and set down in a large flat region. “Well, have fun with your test,” the captain said before walking off. “Try not to blow the planet up.”

“I will certainly try, sir,” Roland replied as he too turned from the window.

The merchant made his way to where the strange device was stored, bumping into Taraka along the way. “Why hello there, my new friend,” he greeted the monk. “Would you care to join me in testing that artifact you collected?”

“Of course,” Taraka replied, nodding.

“Excellent to hear!” Roland exclaimed. “Come along, my friend.”

The two collected the object, then departed from the ship, stepping out onto the vast green plains of Verdant. They walked a good distance away from the  _Maverick_ , just to be cautious, and selected a spot to conduct their tests.

“This spot will do,” Roland said. “Now, let’s see here.” He lifted the device up and took a close look at it. “Let’s find out what these buttons do.”

Deciding to start with the button on the upper right, Roland pressed it. He waited a few moments, and nothing seemed to happen. “Hmm,” the merchant grunted. “Would you mind holding this, my friend?” he then asked Taraka.

The monk took the device off of Roland’s hands, allowing him to access his pack. He pulled out his datapad and noted the results of pressing the button as Taraka continued to examine the object on his own.

“Shall we try another?” the monk asked after a few moments.

“Indeed,” Roland agreed. “Go ahead and do the honors while I record the results.”

Taraka nodded, then pressed the button on the upper left. This seemed to trigger something, as the device let out a single beep, causing the monk to drop it in surprise. Both he and Roland looked at the object lying in the grass for several moments, waiting to see if it would do anything else.

“Well, I do not think it is going to explode,” Taraka said.

“But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to do anything else either,” Roland observed. He glanced back down at his datapad and noted that the device beeped when that particular button was pressed.

Meanwhile, Taraka picked the object up off the ground. “Only one way to find out,” the monk said before pressing the button on the lower left. “Nothing,” he said after a few moments of silence.

“Try the next one, then,” Roland said after recording this result. The merchant watched over the monk’s shoulder as he pushed the final button, the one on the lower right. The results of this were the most interesting yet. As soon as the button was pressed, the panel changed to display a bunch of text in the same language as what was on the button labels. Of course, neither Roland nor Taraka could read what it said.

“An owner’s manual, perhaps?” Roland suggested.

“If it is, it doesn’t do us much good as we cannot read it,” Taraka said.

“Too true, my friend,” Roland agreed. “But at the very least, this item seems harmless. I believe it is safe to sell.”

“Very good,” Taraka said. “Now, how about we see what Pokemon can be found on this world.”

“A most excellent suggestion, my friend!”

* * *

Taraka let out a deep breath as he leaned on his staff. He and Roland had been walking for quite a while across Verdant’s vast plains. Currently, the two were ascending a large hill and had stopped to catch their breath for a moment. Taraka looked around back in the direction they had come, hoping to catch sight of some Pokemon. The monk, however, didn’t spot any.

“Shall we continue on?” Roland asked. “Or shall we turn back? There doesn’t appear to be much else besides grass out here.”

“We are near the top of the hill,” Taraka replied. “Perhaps we might get a better vantage point. We can turn back if we do not see anything.”

“Very well, my friend. Let us continue onwards!”

The pair continued their ascent and soon crested the hill. Here, they were greeted by the beautiful sight of rolling hills of grass, the sunlight shining down over them. In the distance, Taraka could see several Cottonees and Hoppips floating in the wind as well as some grazing Skiddos at the foot of the hill.

“So this is where all the Pokemon were hiding,” Roland said, letting out a characteristic jolly laugh. “Let’s get down there.”

Taraka and Roland descended the hill toward the grazing Skiddos. By the time they reached the bottom, all but a pair had moved off. However, a batch of Cottonees and Hoppips had drifted near. As he was thinking of which group of Pokemon to pursue, Taraka suddenly heard a rustling in the nearby tall grass. A moment later, a Leafeon emerged from the brush.

“Ah, that one will make a nice addition to my team,” Roland said. He pulled out a Pokeball as he approached the Leafeon, and sent out a Lileep. Taraka followed behind the merchant, releasing Sirius, who had recently evolved into a Togekiss with a shiny stone he had purchased after the last job the  _Maverick_  crew completed.

Seeing the two approach with their Pokemon, the Leafeon began to cautiously back away, eyeing them with suspicion. “Sirius, flank around behind it,” Taraka instructed his Pokemon. The Togekiss flew over the Leafeon and touched down behind it, blocking its escape. “Now, Fairy Wind!”

As Taraka’s Pokemon unleashed her attack, Roland continued to approach slowly alongside his Pokemon. “Sloth, use Confuse Ray,” the merchant commanded the Lileep. His Pokemon released a ray of hypnotic energy at the Leafeon, sending it into a fit of confusion. The dazed Pokemon stumbled, then fell over. It rolled around on the ground in its confused state, spraying a Razor Leaf attack in all directions, but not hitting anything.

“Fairy Wind again, Sirius,” Taraka ordered his own Pokemon. Sirius attacked again, striking the dazed Leafeon with one more blast of air.

While it still lay stunned on the ground, Roland tossed a great ball at it, capturing it instantly. “Well, that was easy,” the merchant said as he walked over to claim his prize. “Now, about those Cottonees and Hoppips,” he continued once he picked the ball up. Taraka gazed over at the other Pokemon to see them floating away on the wind. “Wait, come back!” Roland called out after them. The merchant recalled his Lileep, then took off in pursuit, switching to a Linoone as he chased after them.

“He can take care of himself,” Taraka said to himself before walking in the opposite direction. The monk was more interested in capturing one of the Skiddos. With his Togekiss flying alongside him, he approached the grazing Pokemon.

* * *

“Now’s your chance, Envy!” Roland shouted to his Pokemon, spotting the group of Cottonees and Hoppips drifting low to the ground. “Use Headbutt!” The Linoone jumped up at the Cottonee at the back of the pack and bashed into it with his skull.

In response to this attack, the group of three Cottonees and two Hoppips descended upon Envy. They all looked surprisingly angry. “Well, this is unexpected,” Roland said to himself, watching one of the Hoppips blast his Linoone with a yellow powder that left him stunned. The other then bashed into him.

“Get out of there, Envy!” Roland shouted to his Pokemon. The Linoone leaped out from the mass of Pokemon surrounding him, headbuttinng one of the Cottonees along the way. The Pokemon weren’t going to let him escape that easily, though. The Cottonee that Envy had just hit unleashed an energy draining attack, while another spewed Leech Seeds at him, and the third released a blast of wind.

_I need to get rid of some of them_ , Roland thought. He ran up to the Cottonee that his Linoone had hurt and threw a Pokeball, hoping for the best. The Pokemon was pulled inside the ball, which fell to the ground, still. The Cottonee was caught.

Although he was happy that he had captured another Pokemon, Roland knew he still needed to deal with the four remaining Pokemon assaulting Envy. He watched one of the Hoppips tackle his Pokemon to the ground before the other put him to sleep with another powder burst. One of the Cottonees then sprayed the Linoone with Cotton Spores.

“Enough of this,” Roland said before recalling his subdued Pokemon. He then sent his Lileep back out. The remaining Pokemon began to attack immediately, but Sloth was much more resistant than Envy. “You’ll need to do better than that!” the merchant teased them.

* * *

“There they are, Sirius,” Taraka said to his Togekiss as he and the Pokemon crept up on the pair of Skiddos, who remained unaware of their presence. “Use Fairy Wind on that one,” the monk continued, pointing to one of the two Pokemon.

Sirius quickly flew in and unleashed a blast of air, catching the Skiddo completely off guard. Before the Pokemon could figure out what was going on, she was able to get in another attack. Seeing its friend in danger, the other Skiddo ran up and tackled the Togekiss, but she remained relatively unharmed. Finally regaining its bearings, the injured Skiddo let out a flurry of razor sharp leaves, but Sirius easily flew out of harm’s way.

“Come here, you,” Taraka said to himself as he snuck up on the startled Skiddo. It was totally distracted by Sirius, so the monk was able to get up right next to it and press a Pokeball against it. The Skiddo was pulled inside without a struggle.

“Sirius, use Yawn and put that Skiddo to sleep,” Taraka then ordered his Pokemon. The Togekiss obliged, sending the remaining Skiddo into a drowsy state. It tried to get in another attack, but it succumbed to sleep, collapsing to the ground.

“Good work,” Taraka said as he placed his new capture into his pocket. He then gazed across the field to see Roland having a bit of trouble with the Cottonees and Hoppips, which were swarming around his Lileep.

“Looks like we need to go lend a hand,” the monk said to his Togekiss.

* * *

“Sloth, use Acid!” Roland commanded. His Lileep let loose a spray of acidic juices, splattering one of the Cottonees and both Hoppips. This did a real number on them, taking out one of the Hoppips.

Three assailants still remained, however. The two Cottonees unleashed blasts of wind at the Lileep, starting to whittle him down. The remaining Hoppip looked to be about to strike again as well, but a Pokeball came flying in, pulling it inside. Roland looked over in the direction the ball had come from to see Taraka running over, his Togekiss flying just behind him. The merchant then heard the sound of the Hoppip breaking free and turned back to face it.

“Sirius, Metronome!” Roland then heard Taraka command his Pokemon. The Togekiss flew in and unleashed a random attack, conjuring a storm of shimmering crystals. Unfortunately, they didn’t hit anything.

Desiring to end the fight as quickly possible, Roland decided he needed to get his hands dirty. He clenched his hand into a fist and took a swing at the nearest Cottonee. His punch made contact, but the impact was absorbed by the Pokemon’s soft, fluffy body.

“Sloth, use Ancient Power!” the merchant then commanded his Pokemon. Unlike his own attack, Roland’s Lileep was able to hurt the Cottonee a bit. It wasn’t enough to take it out, however. Still quite agitated, the two Cottonees struck back, but they couldn’t do much to harm Roland’s Pokemon.

As his Pokemon struggled with the Cottonees, Roland watched with relief as Taraka drew the Hoppip away with another attempt to capture it. Angered, the Pokemon flew right at the monk, bashing into him.

Then, suddenly, one of the Skiddos ran in and unleashed a torrent of razor sharp leaves at Taraka’s Togekiss. Luckily, the attack failed to find its mark. “I guess it woke up,” Roland heard Taraka say. He assumed the monk must have put it to sleep earlier. “Let’s deal with these ones first.”

“Agreed,” Roland said. He turned back to his Lileep, still scuffling with the two Cottonees. They were starting to wear his Pokemon down, but he knew the Lileep still had fight left in him. “Sloth, use Constrict!” The merchant’s Pokemon grappled onto one of the attacking Pokemon and began to squeeze. While it was immobilized, Taraka seized the opportunity and threw a Pokeball at it, successfully capturing it.

“Now for the last one!” Roland shouted. “Sloth, take it down with Acid!” The Lileep obliged, spewing out more acid at the sole remaining Cottonee, finally bringing it down.

With his Pokemon now safe, Roland turned his attention to the Pokemon that Taraka and his Togekiss were battling against. The merchant watched the Hoppip tackle the monk’s Pokemon, then fall to the ground, asleep. Taraka then ran up and pressed a Pokeball against the sleeping Pokemon. The ball pulled the Hoppip in, then began shaking violently. After an exceptionally long time, it fell still, then the monk slipped it into his pocket.

Now, all that remained was the Skiddo, which was still spraying Razor Leaf attacks at Taraka’s Pokemon. The Togekiss, for her part, did not seem particularly bothered. “Sirius, Metronome again,” Taraka commanded. This time, Sirius coated over in ice as she dive-bombed the Skiddo, delivering a decisive strike. The goat Pokemon fired back more leaves, but the Togekiss was still unfazed. Taraka moved in and bashed the Skiddo over the head with his staff, then ordered his Pokemon to attack again. With one last blast of air, the Skiddo was brought down.

“Nice work, my friend,” Roland complimented the monk. “I most certainly owe you one. I got myself in a bit over my head there.”

Taraka smiled back at the merchant. “I am glad to be of assistance.”

“And I thank you for it,” Roland said with a nod. “Now, how about we return to the ship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it. Another session is done. Since we didn’t want to advance the plot too much without the full party there, the rest of the session was spent in a combat encounter after messing around with the device. Looking back, I wasn’t particularly creative in coming up with what happened when each button was pressed, but hindsight is always 20/20.
> 
> The planet itself was kind of amusing. As we’ve discussed in earlier chapters, my random planet generator spits out two biomes for the planet as well as a commonly found Pokemon type. In this case, it spit out grassland, grassland, and grass type. Hence the grassiness, and me choosing to name it Verdant. And then Roland’s player rolled a 6 on looking for Pokemon, so I just threw a bunch of grass types at them, including a rarer one in the form of Leafeon.
> 
> After the Leafeon was caught, they kind of split up and Roland’s player got himself mobbed, which was hilarious. The fight ended up taking a little while because of that and the fact that we only had two players. We joked about how fast it would have gone if Axel was present because he would have just burnt everything to death.
> 
> In session, I had the whole encounter happen at once, alternating between what the two players were doing as their initiatives came up, but in writing it I opted to split it up. In doing this, I experimented by alternating character perspectives mid-encounter to make the read a bit more interesting, not to mention easier to follow.


	19. Merchants and Monks

Verdant’s sun was beginning to sink below the planet’s rolling hills as Taraka and Roland arrived back at the  _Maverick_. After a brief stop in the med bay, the two stepped into the ship’s living quarters to find Axel chatting with the captain. The pair fell silent and turned to look at them as they entered.

“This the new guy you were telling me about, Captain?” Axel asked.

“Yup, that’s him,” Cyrus replied

Taraka watched Roland approach the mercenary, eager to introduce himself. “A pleasure to meet you, sir!” the merchant said, shaking Axel’s hand. “Roland Mercette at your service!”

“Axel,” the mercenary replied.

“So, what did you find out about the object?” Cyrus asked.

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Roland answered.

“It does not appear dangerous, though,” Taraka added.

“That means we can sell it no problem, then,” Axel said.

“It would appear so,” the monk replied. “The trip was not a waste, at least,” he continued. “We managed to catch a few Pokemon while we were out.”

“You went looking for Pokemon without me?” Axel asked.

Taraka smiled. “Something tells me all the grass Pokemon on this world would not do you much good.”

Axel laughed. “Fair enough,” the mercenary said. “Now, how about we go sell this thing and get paid?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cyrus said. “Next stop, Khalimuck.”

* * *

Axel walked down the main corridor of the  _Maverick_  in search of Ace as the ship made the short trip across the system to Khalimuck. The mercenary had a proposal for his android crewmate that he had been thinking over for a while. With his affinity for fire Pokemon, Axel was hoping Ace was open to trading his Ponyta in exchange for one of his non-fire type Pokemon.

Entering Erik’s workshop, Axel found Ace working on a robot with the ship’s engineer. Erik liked to tinker around with robots in his free time, which was a hobby that Ace seemed to share in interest in. In fact, lately Ace had been showing more interest in working on robots with Erik than going on jobs with the rest of the crew. That was part of the reason Axel wanted to trade Pokemon with him.

“What can I do for you, Axel?” Erik asked, looking up at the mercenary as he entered. “Armor need a tune-up?”

“I’m actually here to talk to Ace,” Axel replied.

“What is it?” Ace asked.

“I was wondering if you’d be willing to part with your Ponyta,” Axel said.

“I like Flare, though,” Ace said. “He is a good Pokemon.”

“Well, I noticed that you’ve been spending more time working here than coming out on jobs or exploring with us,” Acel said. “I figured a fire Pokemon would do more good in my hands, especially if you’re not battling as much.” Axel smiled, hoping his argument would be enough to persuade his crewmate. “I’d be willing to trade one of my own Pokemon for it.”

“I guess you have a point,” Ace agreed. “I am willing to trade. Which Pokemon are you offering?”

“Well, you can have one of these two,” Axel said, pulling out two of his Pokeballs. “Chimecho and Pineco. I got both of them in trades, but they don’t really mesh with my battling style.” The mercenary sent out the Pokemon so Ace could get a look at them.

Ace looked at both Pokemon, then approached the Chimecho. The Pokemon floated up to Ace’s face and looked at him curiously.

“I like this one,” the android said after a few moments.

“He’s all yours,” Axel said grinning.

* * *

Upon the  _Maverick_ ’s arrival on Khalimuck, Axel, Roland, and Taraka departed from the ship and headed to the market. Axel led the way, brining his crewmates back to the merchant that had told him he would buy ancient tech off him.

“And so you have returned,” the merchant said, recognizing Axel. “I take it you have something to sell me?”

“You bet,” Axel said, grinning.

“What have you got for me?”

Axel reached into his pack and pulled out the object he and his crewmates recovered from the ruins. “We’ve got this cube thing here,” the mercenary said, showing it to the merchant. “It’s got some buttons on it that do stuff. We found it in a ruin and it’s really important. You know, I’m not sure if we should be selling it to you because we really could get in trouble.”

“ _Oh really?_ ” the merchant asked incredulously as he took the object off Axel’s hands to examine it for himself.

“Yeah,” Axel said, crossing his arms.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“We went through a lot of effort procuring this particular item,” Roland chipped in. Axel had brought him along, thinking his skill as a merchant would help secure a higher price point. He hoped it would pay off. “Surely it’s worth a little bit of a markup given the effort and expense we took to obtain it.”

“I’ll tell you what,” the other merchant said. “I’ll give you three-thousand credits for it.”

“Thirty-three-hundred and we’ll give you the notes on our discoveries of what it does as well,” Roland countered.

“I’m already being quite generous,” the merchant replied. “Don’t push your luck. Three-thousand is my final offer.”

“Three-thousand it is, then,” Axel said.

A few moments later, the three crewmates walked away from the merchant’s stall, each a few hundred credits richer. “That could have gone better,” Roland commented.

“It is what it is,” Taraka said. “We got more than I was expecting.”

“I suppose you’re right, my friend.”

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m gonna go buy some gear,” Axel said.

“I too would like to make some purchases,” Taraka said.

“In that case, I will set up shop while you browse the market,” Roland said.

“Sounds good. We’ll meet back here in a few hours.”

* * *

It was nearing late afternoon on Khalimuck as Taraka made his way through the crowded market. Having made his purchases — namely some evolutionary stones for his Pokemon — the monk was making his way back to where Roland had set up his curio table. Returning to the spot, Taraka found Axel was already back. His two crewmates were conversing while they waited for him.

“There you are, Taraka,” Axel said when he spotted the monk. “Thought you got lost or something.”

“Just taking my time,” Taraka replied.

“Ready to head back to the ship?” Axel asked.

“Indeed.”

“Give me a few minutes to pack up, if you will,” Roland said.

“Gladly,” Taraka replied.

As he waited for the merchant to stow his curio table and wares away, Taraka looked out into the crowd, watching the people browsing the market. Despite how busy it all seemed, there was also something peaceful and soothing about it. Suddenly, out from the masses, Taraka saw a familiar face appear.

“Hello again, Taraka,” the monk Samir said as he approached.

“Hello, Samir,” Taraka replied, nodding at his fellow monk.

“This a friend of yours, Taraka?” Axel asked.

“He is the one who informed me of the ruins we visited the other day,” Taraka explained.

“So you made it out there already, then,” Samir said. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Taraka said.

“I am sorry to hear that.”

“We came across another monk there,” Taraka elaborated. “He was killed by a strange shadowy figure just before we arrived. Before we could confront it, it just disappeared.”

A worried expression appeared on Samir’s face. “Most troublesome.” The monk fell silent, not speaking for several moments. “There have been rumours circulating,” he eventually continued. “Rumours of a mysterious individual who hunts monks on their pilgrimages and takes their scrolls as trophies. No one has really been able to say for sure if these rumours are true or not ...” Samir trailed off, as if deep in thought.

“Until now, it seems,” Taraka said. He did not like the sound of this monk hunter, fearing that he might become their next target.

“Yes,” Samir agreed. “So it seems.”

“Well, it was nice knowin’ ya, Taraka,” Axel said, playfully slapping the monk on the back. “But it sounds like traveling with you has become too dangerous.”

A slight smirk appeared on Taraka’s face. He was more than accustomed to his crewmate’s tendency to joke around by now, and he appreciated his lightheartedness at a time like this. “But think about it this way,” he said. “If we capture this hunter, he might have a high bounty on him that we can claim.”

“True,” Axel said. “I do like money. We should hunt him down, then. Let’s visit another ruin and try to draw him out.” A grin appeared on the mercenary’s face. “Maybe we can use you as bait.”

“I don’t know about being bait, but I do need to keep visiting ruins for my pilgrimage,” Taraka said. “And I would very much like to catch this guy and stop him from killing anyone else.”

“I guess that decides it,” Roland said. “Tell me, Samir, what else do you know about this mysterious assailant? Are there any survivors that we can speak to?”

“Not that I am aware of,” Samir replied.

“What about any particular sites that are more dangerous than others?” Axel asked.

“From what I have heard, certain sites that were more recently uncovered have been where this hunter has tended to strike,” the monk explained. “Ruins that were discovered long ago that many monks have since visited have not seen any attacks.”

“How curious,” Roland commented.

“Indeed,” Samir agreed. “Monks unlocking new secrets are being targeted while those unveiling more of the history of things long known are not. It is almost as if this hunter — this assassin, if you will — does not want them to find something out.”

“Then it seems that we must visit these sites if we want to find this assassin,” Roland said. “As an archaeologist, I would very much like to know what secrets they hold. Do you know of any monks on pilgrimage that may know of other ruins sites that we can visit?”

“None that I know personally, but I am staying at a monastery here on Khalimuck where monks on pilgrimage may rest and meditate while on their journeys,” Samir said. “Perhaps someone there can help you.”

“Where is this monastery?” Taraka asked.

“It is just beyond the edge of town,” Samir said, pointing to a hill off in the distance. “I can take you there, if you wish.”

Taraka nodded. “Lead the way, brother.”

* * *

After a short trek led by Samir, Taraka and his two crewmates arrived at a small monastery on the other side of a hill on the outskirts of Khalimuck’s main settlement. As they followed Samir inside, Taraka noticed a few monks meditating in the small garden outside the building. Inside, Taraka was greeted by the sight of several more monks. Some were meditating, others conversing with each other in hushed tones. It reminded him of home. A few of the monks looked up at the newcomers upon their entry, but quickly returned to what they were doing.

“Here we are,” Samir said. “I am certain that at least some of those staying here will be able to help you.”

“Thank you, Samir,” Taraka said. He bowed his head to his fellow monk before leading his two crewmates further into the room. Samir followed a short distance behind the trio.

“Hello, monks!” Axel called out rather loudly from the center of the room. “We are looking into the mysterious killer rumored to be hunting your kind. Any information you could provide would be appreciated.”

Slowly, a small group of monks gathered around the three crewmates to help in what way they could. “Has anyone seen this assassin?” Axel asked them. “Have you seen any dead bodies in ruins or know any missing monks that might have been killed?”

“Pilgrimages are generally solitary journeys,” Samir explained to the mercenary. “We often do not see other monks for long periods of time, except in places such as this.”

“It is also hard to say if one who has not been to this monastery in a long time has moved on as opposed to having met a terrible end,” another monk said.

“Maybe another approach, then,” Roland said. “Does anyone know of any recently uncovered ruins? We have heard that is where this assassin chooses to strike.”

“I believe I may have what you are looking for,” a voice said. Taraka looked over to the side to see another monk approaching. He looked a bit older than the rest — perhaps in his late forties or early fifties if Taraka were to guess.

“Taraka, meet Kailash,” Samir said, motioning toward the older monk. “It is by his kindness that this place exists.”

Taraka bowed his head in acknowledgement. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Kailash, this is Taraka,” Samir said. “He and his friends here are looking into the hunter the rumours speak of.”

“So I have heard,” Kailash replied. “I believe I have information that might aid you on this endeavor,” he then said to Taraka. “In the past few years, ruins have been uncovered on several worlds within this sector and those neighboring. These sites all seem to be related in some way … and those that have visited them have tended to disappear.”

“What can you tell us of these sites?” Roland asked.

Kailash proceeded to share what he knew about the locations he mentioned. As the older monk spoke, Taraka realized that his descriptions sounded much like the sites he had visited with the  _Maverick_  crew. The ruins where Ace had been discovered, the ruins in the swamp where he had his first vision, and the ruins where they had encountered the assassin they were looking for all fit the description. Taraka knew it could not be a coincidence.

“Do you know the coordinates of the planets where these ruins are located?” Taraka asked.

Kailash nodded, then procured a Pokedex from his pocket. After several moments, he brought up a short list of planets and their coordinates. Sure enough, Taraka saw the coordinates of the worlds he had visited while traveling about the  _Maverick_. There were also two more planets which they had not visited on the list.

“These are the worlds we must investigate,” Taraka said to his crewmates, pointing out the two planets on the list. “Not only do I believe we will find this assassin there, but they may also hold the key to completing my scroll.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Axel asked.

“Thank you for your help, Kailash,” Taraka said to the older monk.

“You are quite welcome,” Kailash replied, a warm smile on his face. “Best of luck to you, but be careful.”

“We most certainly shall, sir!” Roland said. “We most certainly shall.”

* * *

“So, Taraka,” Axel said as he and his two crewmates made their way back to the  _Maverick_. “What makes you so certain we’ll find this assassin at one of these locations?”

“The locations Kailash provided us are all sites that appear related and have had a higher frequency of supposed attacks by this mysterious person,” the monk replied. “And we’ve already been to three of them.”

“That logic seems sound,” Roland agreed.

“But maybe it means the assassin is already on our trail,” Axel mused.

“That’s a disturbing thought,” Taraka said.

“Well if he is,” Axel said. “Then we’ll just have to stomp him into the—”

The mercenary’s words were suddenly cut short when he felt someone bump right into him. He quickly turned to face forward just in time to see a person falling to the ground.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Axel shouted angrily. His tone, however, quickly changed when he saw that it was an attractive young woman. She looked to be of Sinai descent, judging from her features. “I’m sorry,” he said, offering his hand. “Can I help you up?”

The young woman grabbed the mercenary’s hand and he pulled her to her feet. “Thanks,” she said. “Sorry about that. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” She let out a laugh as she straightened out her chin-length dark hair.

“Don’t worry about it,” Axel said. He was willing to let things slide when it came to pretty girls.

“Say, do any of you know how to get to the monastery?” the young Sinai woman asked.

“May I ask why you want to go there?” Axel asked.

“I’m looking for monk I met earlier who told me he was staying there,” the woman explained.

“It is just outside of town, over the hill,” Roland said, pointing off in the direction they had come from.”

“Just down the road,” Axel added. “You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you very much,” the woman said, flashing a smile.

“Would you care for an escort?” Roland asked.

“No thanks.”

“Very well then,” Roland replied. “Farewell, miss.”

“Man, I should have got her name,” Axel grumbled once the woman was gone.

“I do not believe she was interested, my friend,” Roland said. “Come now, let us return to the ship.”

“Right,” Axel agreed.

Not too much later, the trio arrived back at the  _Maverick_. They made their way to the living quarters to find the captain waiting.

“You three were gone a while,” Cyrus said upon seeing them.

“Well, we picked up some leads on that shadowy figure we saw,” Axel explained. “We’ve got the coordinates for some more planets with ruins where we might fight him. And we can salvage some more stuff while we’re there.”

“Good idea,” the captain agreed. “Let’s have a look at those coordinates.”

Cyrus led his crew to the nav chart, where Taraka provided him with the data to plug in.

“Fraxion and Freyeon, huh?” the captain said, reading the names of the planets. “Looks like we’ve got one in Sector 32 and one here in 33.”

“Might it be wise to visit the one in Sector 32 first and then visit the one in this sector on the way back to sell the salvage here on Khalimuck?” Roland suggested.

“A good a plan as any,” Cyrus agreed. “Freyeon it is, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have our first session with the full party at this time in the campaign. Axel's player was back and it was nice to see all three of the players having some good chemistry together. This chapter covers the majority of the session, minus the stuff on the planet they went to at the end, which will be covered in the next chapter. There was a tiny bit missing from the beginning of the recording since I forgot to start it at the beginning again, but nothing crucial was missed.
> 
> There was some good RP stuff happening in this session. First off, since Ace had shifted from a PC to an NPC, Axel's player wanted to trade with him for his Ponyta. He made a good argument for it and rolled well on his social skill checks that he made so Ace agreed to the trade. I don’t actually think Axel's player ended up ever using it, though. I did like the scene, however.
> 
> Then everyone failed trying to persuade the merchant to give them more money for the object. They all rolled terribly on their skill checks and it was quite funny. After they used their new funds to buy some items, I then threw some plot at them. I used the monk who had told them about the ruin at the start of this plot arc to shed some light on the shadowy figure they encountered, and since they wanted to speak to more monks about it, I came up with the idea of a monastery where monks on pilgrimage could rest, run by an older monk who had already completed his. If you’ve read through the original Spacemon series, then you might recognize the monastery, the monk Kailash who runs it, and the whole planet of Khalimuck from the seventh Profile. That post may have come out before this one, but it was in fact a cameo of some things from Frontier, as this campaign session happened over a year ago.
> 
> So, I provided the players with some planets to visit over the next few sessions at the end of it all, one of which they chose to go to right away. That will get covered in the next chapter.


	20. Frozen Fairy Faceoff!

Taraka joined Roland, Axel, and Cyrus near the front of the ship as the  _UAS Maverick_  dropped out of warp space in the Ventau system in Sector 32. The monk watched out the viewport as the ship approached the planet Freyeon, a white sphere covered in snow and ice. He got a nice view of the planet’s vast, rugged tundras and dense evergreen forests once the  _Maverick_  broke through the atmosphere. Despite the cold, unforgiving conditions of this world, it was still quite a beautiful sight to see.

According to the information Kailash had provided, the ruins were located within one of the icy world’s many forests. The trees were dense, so Anya couldn’t land the ship right next to the ruins. The nearest viable landing site was in a clearing several kilometers out, at least an hour’s walk. Taraka didn’t mind, though. A nice stroll through the snow granted the possibility of finding some Pokemon along the way.

“Stay safe out there,” Cyrus said as Taraka, Axel, and Roland walked down the cargo bay ramp out into the snow. “If you get into a bind, Ace and I will be on standby.”

“Don’t worry, Captain,” Axel said. “I’ll keep ‘em safe.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

And with that, the three explorers set out in the direction of the ruins. Taraka kept his eyes out for any wild Pokemon as they made their way through the snowy forest, but it was likely the ship flying overhead had spooked a lot of them. They probably wouldn’t see any until they got closer to the ruins.

As they walked along, Taraka noticed Roland pull out a peculiar device. The merchant then began looking around. It looked to Taraka like he was scanning something.

“What is that you’ve got there?” the monk asked, curious.

“Ah,” Roland replied. “This, my friend, is a dowsing machine. I use it to locate shards, fragments of gemstones with mystical properties. Ah ha! There’s one now.” The device in his hand began to beep, and Roland soon pulled a violet-colored gem fragment from the snow.

“Interesting,” Taraka said, looking at the object in his companion’s hand. “What do you do with these shards?”

“It is quite simple, really!” Roland replied. “I use them in the creation of my wares! I can use them to create evolutionary stones and other such items. I have even discovered a way to combine these shards into gems that can power up a Pokemon’s attacks.”

“Fascinating,” the monk replied. “You will need to show me sometime.”

“Indeed, my friend. Indeed.”

“Come on, you two!” Axel called from a ways ahead. “Keep up!”

“We shall catch up momentarily!” Roland shouted back. “Patience, my friend! Patience!”

Taraka simply let out a subtle chuckle as he followed after Axel.

* * *

As the three crewmates continued to press on through the forest to the ruins, Taraka noticed the trees begin to thin out a bit. They hadn’t quite walked into a clearing, but the plant life was certainly sparser. Lying beneath a tree nearby, the monk spotted a Pokemon. It was a Vulpix with a coat of white fur.

“Look,” Taraka said, pointing it out to his crewmates.

“I want it!” Axel immediately called out.

The mercenary’s sudden shout seemed to startle some other Pokemon in the area as it was followed by a rustling in the bushes nearby. Out from the snow covered evergreen shrubbery emerged a Glaceon. It looked at the three Humans with cautious curiosity. Meanwhile, a Swirlix emerged from the denser forest a short distance away and a Spritzee drifted down from a tree near the one the Vulpix was resting beneath.

“I want that one too!” Axel shouted, pointing at the Glaceon.

“These Pokemon are anyone’s for the taking, sir!” Roland said.

“These two are mine,” Axel said, trying to lay claim. “Don’t you dare try to catch them.”

“Not if I get to them first,” Taraka teased the mercenary.

“We’ll just see about that,” Axel retorted. He pulled a Pokeball from his belt and released his Charizard. “Ritsu, go get that Glaceon! Use Ember!” he commanded the Pokemon. “And stop anyone who tries to throw a Pokeball at it!”

Ritsu flapped her wings and lifted off the ground, then rushed the Glaceon, spewing fire from her mouth. The sudden torrent of flames engulfed the unsuspecting Pokemon, but it remained standing, if just barely. Ignoring Axel’s warnings, Taraka moved in and threw a Pokeball at the injured Pokemon, instantly capturing it.

“That was mine, Taraka!” Axel shouted as Ritsu turned her gaze to the monk, small licks of flame flaring out from her nostrils. Taraka remained unfazed and just stared the Charizard down. He knew Axel wouldn’t actually have his Pokemon attack him.

The two stood there with eyes locked for several moments before the Charizard’s gaze was drawn away when the nearby Swirlix began spraying out bits of the cottony substance that made up its body as a defense mechanism. As Ritsu turned, one of these blobs hit her in the eyes, momentarily blinding her. The Charizard spewed out flames in response, setting the closest tree on fire.

The tree bursting into flames spooked the Vulpix, which quickly jumped up and began to run away. “Hey, come back here!” Axel shouted before chasing after it.

Roland was close behind, and sent out his newly caught Leafeon. “Lust, stop that Vulpix,” the merchant commanded his Pokemon. “Use Grasswhistle!” The Leafeon let out a high pitched sound that stunned the Vulpix, stopping it in its tracks. “All yours,” Roland then said to Axel before turning his attention to the Swirlix.

Taraka, meanwhile, decided to catch the Spritzee next. He released his Ponyta and directed it after the Pokemon. “Blaze, Flame Wheel!” In response the attack, the Spritzee let out a loud wail that seemed to echo all around the area. The directed burst of sound wasn’t particularly powerful, and Blaze seemed rather unaffected.

“Now, Stomp on it!” Taraka commanded his Pokemon. The Ponyta delivered a swift kick with one of his hooves, doing a real number on the Spritzee. Seizing the opportunity, the monk tossed another Pokeball, capturing his second Pokemon of the day.

Taraka then turned to see the Swirlix trading blows with Ritsu. The Swirlix unleashed a burst of air at Axel’s Charizard only to be met with a devastating inferno of flame breath. The attack left the Swirlix in rough shape, allowing it to be captured by Roland. Once the Pokemon was pulled into the Pokeball, the ball shook several times before falling still.

That just left the Vulpix. Taraka watched Axel fire off his flamethrower, doing a real number on the stunned Pokemon. Disoriented and frightened, the Vulpix let loose a spray of ice all around it, freezing Roland’s Leafeon in place. This last ditch effort on the Vulpix’s part did little to help it. Axel moved in and threw a great ball at it. Vulpix inside, the ball fell into the snow. It shook once … twice … three times … then fell still.

“There, you caught a Pokemon,” Roland said to the mercenary. “Are you satisfied now, sir?”

“I’m glad one of you didn’t steal this Vulpix,” Axel replied as he picked up his new capture. “But I still want that Glaceon,” he continued, turning to Taraka.

“You should have been quicker at capturing it, then,” the monk said, laughing. “And besides, I think you would be better off with a Flareon.”

“Fine, I’ll let you off the hook,” Axel said. “But only because I caught the Vulpix.”

“Well then,” Roland said. “Shall we continue on our way now?”

Taraka nodded. “Indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the final session of 2016. Yup, I’m that behind! This is a shorter chapter but it didn’t make sense to tack it onto the end of the previous chapter with the rest of the session or the beginning of the next chapter before the events of the following session, so this is just another short wild encounter chapter with some extra narrative flavor tossed in. Roland has the Artificer Research Field for his Researcher class, which is based around collecting shards with a dowsing machine. This was his first instance dowsing in game so I decided to go into some detail about it just for some neat narrative stuff.
> 
> Then came the fun and amusing wild fight. It was a good roll so I decided to throw some good stuff at them, plus it was an icy world where fairy types are common, so I couldn’t not throw in an Alolan Vulpix. Everyone ended up really wanting the Vulpix and Glaceon and they got quite competitive for them, especially Taraka's and Axel's players. If I’ve learned anything about Axel's player it’s that he really likes Eeveelutions (who doesn’t) and generation 1 fire types, even if Vulpix was an ice type in this case. Axel's player was even asking about intercepting Pokeballs to which I gave a hard no of an answer, and the others basically said don’t be that guy to him. For whatever reason, Roland’s player completely missed that there was a Swirlix present for the first part of the encounter, and ended up really wanting it when he did spot it, so he backed off on either of the two ice types. Although, he was annoyed when he thought the Swirlix got burnt to death; it miraculously survived with 1 HP though. Even though there was some mild salt in this encounter (which I was glad wasn’t directed at me for once), honestly we were all laughing about how competitive it all was and were having a good time.
> 
> And then we were off for 2 weeks for Christmas and New Year’s, which was actually kinda good because it gave me extra time to plan some fun encounters for the ruins and make some nice maps for once.


	21. Ruin Raiders

The cold air was still as Taraka, Axel, and Roland drew near the ruins on Freyeon. The trees began to thin out, giving way to much more rugged terrain. Coming upon a steep cliff face, Taraka spotted a staircase built into it, leading up through the rocks to the ruins.

“Finally,” Axel said.

“Don’t tell me you’re tired, sir,” Roland said.

“Not at all,” the mercenary replied. “Just sick of walking.”

As the trio approached the stairs, Taraka spotted several sets of tracks in the snow that looked like they had been made quite recently. “Someone else has been here,” the monk said, pointing the tracks out to his crewmates. “By the looks of it, they were carrying something quite large,” he continued, pointing out a trench through the snow that appeared to be caused by an object being dragged.

“That’s just great,” Axel said. “Do you think it’s our assassin friend?”

“I do not believe so,” Taraka replied. “This looks like several people, and it sounded like he works alone.”

“Hmm,” Roland said. “Then who do you think—”

“Get down!” Taraka cut the merchant off, suddenly spotting a man with a rifle peek up from behind a rock next to the stairs. The monk dove behind a nearby tree, and just in time too; a shot impacted the snow where he had been standing seconds prior.

“Good heavens!” Roland cried out as he too hid behind a tree.

Axel, however, stubbornly held his ground and sent out his Charizard just as another shooter popped up on the other side of the stairs. A shot rang out, and a rapidly accelerated metal projectile impacted Ritsu’s scales. The Charizard let out a mighty roar, then lifted off. She flew at her attacker, spewing flames from her mouth, but the man ducked down behind the rock and out of harm’s way.

From the safety of the tree he was taking cover behind, Taraka threw up a psionic barrier to protect himself and his crewmates as well as their Pokemon, then released his Togekiss. “Sirius, get up there and use Fairy Wind,” the monk commanded his Pokemon. Sirius flew up towards the man who had shot at her trainer and unleashed her attack. Unfortunately, he was protected by the cover of the rocks.

The other gunman, meanwhile, began to fire off short controlled bursts at the two Pokemon overhead. The Charizard and the Togekiss kept avoiding the incoming fire, so the man changed targets and opened fire on Axel. Fortunately, Taraka’s psionic barrier protected him from significant harm.

“You’ll pay for that!” Axel shouted as he trudged forward through the snow. “Ritsu, use Flamethrower!” Heeding her trainer’s command, the Charizard touched down atop the rock the shooter was hiding behind and unleashed a massive surge of flames, melting right through his armor. The man fired a few shots back, wounding Ritsu, but that only served to further enrage her. “Finish him with Flame Burst!” Axel ordered. In one last explosion of flames, the gunman dropped dead. Ritsu let out another roar, then turned her fierce gaze upon the remaining shooter as he tried to line up a shot on Sirius.

Reaching the base of the stairs, Axel pulled out Ritsu’s Pokeball. “Ritsu, come back,” the mercenary said as he recalled his wounded Charizard. Even though he was mildly annoyed with his crewmate for his earlier antics, Taraka appreciated that Axel truly cared deeply for his Pokemon.

From the safety of cover, Taraka focused, pouring his energies into his barrier to strengthen it. He was just in time too, as what would have otherwise been a lethal shot hit his Togekiss. Taraka quickly ran out from cover to come to his Pokemon’s aid. “Use Fairy Wind!” the monk shouted as he closed the distance.

Sirius unleashed her attack as Axel began moving up the stairs. The mercenary drew the gunman’s fire, allowing the Togekiss to fly back to her trainer. After recalling his Pokemon, Taraka ran up the stairs just behind his crewmate and took a swing at the gunman with his staff, but he dodged out of the way. The gunman struck back, slamming Taraka with the butt of his rifle. The monk’s barrier absorbed most of the impact, but it still hurt like hell. Taraka then took another swing at his attacker. This time, he found his mark, but his staff did little more than bounce off the gunman’s armor.

“Get him, Ryner!” Axel shouted, releasing his Alakazam, “Use Ice Beam!” The Pokemon unleashed his icy attack, blasting the gunman backwards. Axel then followed up with a burst of his flamethrower, knocking the man unconscious.

Taraka breathed a sigh of relief. The fighting was over, at least for now.

* * *

“Get up, you coward,” Axel barked as he stood over Roland, who was still cowering behind a tree.

“Please, I mean you no harm!” the merchant cried out, not realizing it was Axel. He tried to shrink away as Axel reached out to grab him, but was unsuccessful.

“It’s me,” Axel grunted as he pulled Roland to his feet.

“Oh,” Roland said, realizing he was no longer in danger. “Is it safe?”

“Those gunmen are dead, if that’s what you mean,” Axel said. “But that doesn’t mean you’re safe. What the hell were you thinking?! Our Pokemon wouldn’t have gotten hurt so bad if you helped us!”

“Please, sir!” Roland cried. “I am no fighter!”

“Axel, let it go,” Taraka said. “We made it didn’t we?”

“Alright,” Axel agreed before releasing Roland from his grasp. “But there might be more inside. Bringing him won’t do anyone any good.”

“Did you say more?” Roland asked.

“Let’s call the captain and ask for backup,” Axel said, ignoring the merchant.

Taraka nodded. “A good idea.”

* * *

“Understood,” Captain Cyrus Drake said into the comms. “We’re on our way.” It seemed his crew had run into some trouble and needed some reinforcements.

“Roger that, Captain,” came Axel’s reply.

The  _Maverick_ ’s captain turned to his pilot. “You heard the man, Anya. We’ve got an emergency insertion and extraction to perform.”

The Romanov pilot nodded and fired up the ship’s engines. “Preparing for takeoff,” she announced.

The  _Maverick_  lifted off the snowy ground, and began flying in the direction of the ruins. “There won’t be anywhere to land, Captain,” Anya said. “Just so you know.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to fly,” Cyrus replied. “Hold the ship in position above their location and I’ll take care of the rest.

“You got it,” Anya said, nodding.

After a brief stop in the med bay to grab some potions, Cyrus made his way to the cargo hold as Anya flew the ship into position. “Lowering the cargo ramp now,” he said over the comms before hitting the release button. The cold Freyeon air rushed into the cargo hold as the ramp deployed. Cyrus began walking down the ramp and looked down. He could see the three members of crew below.

“Let’s do this,” the captain said to himself before grabbing his Braviary’s Pokeball from his belt and sending him out. “Alright, Aguilo, I need you to fly me down there.” The large avian Pokemon flew to his trainer and gripped his outstretched arm with his powerful talons. With a few powerful flaps of his wings, Aguilo lifted off, then began descending to the ground below.

“Nice of you to drop in, boss,” Axel said as Cyrus touched down.

“Well, I can’t have my employees dying on me,” the captain replied with a chuckle. He then turned his gaze to Roland, who looked quite shaken up. “You don’t look like you’re in a state to head into the ruins,” he said. “Especially if there’s more mercs inside.”

“Most certainly not, sir!” the merchant replied.

“Alright, Aguilo, get him out of here,” Cyrus commanded his Pokemon. The Braviary let out a caw, then flew over to Roland. Grabbing the merchant by the shoulders, Aguilo took to the skies, flying Roland back to the safety of the  _Maverick_. A moment later, the Pokemon returned and Cyrus recalled him.

“What a coward,” Cyrus heard Axel grumble to himself.

“The Rim’s not for everyone,” the captain said.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“These are for you two,” Cyrus said, changing the subject. He pulled out the potions he had taken from the med bay and distributed them to his men.

“Thank you, Captain,” Taraka said as he accepted the potions.

“No problem, boys,” Cyrus said as he watched Taraka and Axel heal their injured Pokemon.

“Alright, let’s get in there,” Axel said once his Charizard was back in fighting shape.

Cyrus drew his pistol as he took a step toward the stairs the led up to the ruins. “Be ready for anything, boys.”

* * *

“Looks clear,” Axel said as he led the way through the entranceway to the ruins. The layer of snow that had blown in from outside crunched beneath the mercenary’s feet as he stepped forward.

“Keep your eyes peeled,” Cyrus said as he followed behind him.

“Don’t worry, Captain,” Axel said with a chuckle.

At the end of the entrance passageway, the  _Maverick_  crew stepped out into a large open room. The three of them stood upon a wide upper terrace that wrapped around the entire chamber. A pair of staircases, one on each side of the entrance passageway, led down to the lower level.

Axel approached the guardrail and peered over it to get a better look. He was greeted by the sight of a bunch more mercenaries. By Axel’s count, there were at least ten of them. As he continued to observe them, he spotted a familiar-looking individual.

“Shit,” Axel cursed quietly.

“What is it?” Cyrus asked, walking up next to the mercenary.

“It’s that Dane Lory guy again,” Axel replied.

“He wasn’t so hard to deal with last time,” the captain said.

“He didn’t have so many men with him last time,” Taraka pointed out, joining the pair.

“Fair point. It doesn’t look like they’ve spotted us yet, so let’s just wait and see what happens.”

“C’mon, we can take ‘em,” Axel said. He was itching for a fight to get some payback for the skirmish outside the ruins.

“The odds do not look to be in our favor,” Taraka warned. “We should be patient.”

“Alright men, get these last few crates moved out of here!” Lory barked at his men, putting an end to the discussion. His words echoed in the large open space. “Our employer wants this whole place cleared out.”

It was then that Axel noticed the four large crates sitting on the floor near the mercenaries. The men began to break off into pairs and gather up the crates. “You two with me,” Lory continued, motioning to the remaining men. “We’ve got one last item to collect.” The three of them then headed down a corridor leading deeper into the ruins.

“Move,” Cyrus said quietly as the mercenaries began carrying the crates toward the stairs. He then began inching along the edge of the upper terrace, trying to remain out of sight. Axel and Taraka followed, ducking around the corner and out of sight just as the mercenaries reached the top of the staircase.

“Did you hear that?” one of the mercenaries asked the other man carrying the same crate, turning to look in the  _Maverick_  crew’s direction. Axel kept a finger resting on the trigger of his flamethrower, ready to jump out if need be. He wasn’t taking any chances, just in case they had been spotted. Luckily, they remained unseen. “It was probably nothing,” the mercenary said to his comrade before the two continued on their way.

“See, waiting paid off,” Taraka said once the mercenaries had disappeared down the exit corridor.

“Fine. You were right this time,” Axel conceded. “Now, let’s see what our friend is up to.” The mercenary stood up and began walking toward the stairs, pulling out Ritsu’s Pokeball as he approached.

* * *

Axel took point as he and his crewmates moved down the dark corridor. Their path was lit only by the light radiating off Axel’s Charizard and Taraka’s Blitzle. They had been walking for quite a while by this point, and had just ascended several flights of stairs.

“I think I see light up ahead,” Cyrus suddenly said.

Axel squinted. Sure enough, there was indeed a faint light up ahead. After moving further up, the mercenary could see that the light was coming from a fork in the corridor. Arriving at the fork, Axel looked down both passageways, both of which were lit. If he was correct, one led back in the direction of the large open room. The other, meanwhile, led deeper into the ruins.

“Now, which way do you think he went?” Axel asked.

“This way, I reckon,” Cyrus said, peering down the corridor that led further in.

“What makes you so sure?” Axel asked. “Let’s take a moment to figure this out. We don’t want to miss him.”

“Shut up, we’re going this way,” the captain replied before taking a step into the corridor.

“If you say so, boss,” Axel said before following him.

The corridor soon emptied out into an open hexagonally-shaped chamber with a pedestal in the middle. The walls were completely barren and looked to Axel like they had been recently stripped. That was the least of his concerns, however. Flanked by his two men, Dane Lory stood in front of the pedestal, grasping a red crystal that was set upon it.

At the sound of clanking footsteps entering the room, the mercenary leader picked the crystal up, then turned to look in the  _Maverick_  crew’s direction. “Not you again,” he said, recognizing them from Rooker’s base on Crion.

Axel’s eyes were drawn to the crystal in the man’s hand.  _That looks valuable_ , he thought. “Yeah, it’s us again,” he then said to Lory. “But we’ll let you go if you give us that crystal you just picked up.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Lory sneered back at Axel, his hand moving to one of his Pokeballs.

A smirk appeared on Axel’s face. “Are you sure you wanna fight? We kind of kicked your ass last time, so how about you just give us the crystal and leave?”

“If you want it you’re gonna have to take it from me,” Lory said. “I’m getting paid far too much to give this rock up.”

“Give me that crystal now!” Axel shouted.

“Shut up,” Lory snapped back. “We’re done talking. Get ‘em, boys!” With that, the mercenary grabbed the Pokeball off his belt and released a Blastoise.

 _That’s going to be a problem_ , Axel thought as he sized up this new threat. Ritsu wasn’t going to be able to do much against it. There were still the three men closing in on them, though. “Ritsu, use Flamethrower!” Axel ordered his Charizard, pointing at one of Lory’s two lackeys. Ritsu let out a powerful roar, then unleashed her flames. The man was quickly engulfed by the attack and his screams echoed in the large open space. Then he fell silent, his charred body collapsing to the floor.

Taraka, meanwhile, focused on the Blastoise. “Blitz, Shock Wave,” the monk commanded his Pokemon. The Blitzle fired off a bolt of electricity at the Blastoise, but it didn’t seem to do much to it despite the type advantage. “It’s a tough one,” Taraka said before throwing up a psionic barrier to protect everyone.

“We’ll see about that,” Axel said. He recalled his Charizard, then aimed at the Blastoise and unleashed a stream of fire. The Blastoise quickly turned its back to the attack, and the flames did little more than deflect off its shell.

“Ha, you’ll have to do better than that,” Lory laughed. “Now, let’s see how you handle this.” The mercenary hit a button on his armor, which then began to release clouds of water vapor. The clouds filled the air and started pouring down rain. “Shellshock, use Water Pulse!” he then commanded his Pokemon. The Blastoise took aim at Axel with one of its water cannons, then fired, spraying him with a jet of highly pressurized water. Fortunately, Taraka’s psionic barrier kept it from doing too much damage to his armor.

Meanwhile, Lory’s remaining grunt raised his rifle and opened fire on Taraka’s Blitzle. The monk quickly moved in front of the incoming laser fire, shielding his Pokemon from harm as Cyrus began to return fire. The merc quickly dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding the incoming projectiles.

“Let’s see you dodge this!” the captain shouted. He grabbed a Pokeball off his belt and threw out his Talonflame. “Peregrine, use Peck!” he commanded the Pokemon. The talonflame let a fierce cry before diving down at the grunt. His beak ripped a chunk out of the mercenary’s armor as it made contact.

“Blitze, use Thunder Wave on the leader!” Taraka then commanded his Blitzle. The monk moved up with his Pokemon, keeping himself between her and the grunt, and continued to strengthen his barrier. Once in range, Blitze fired off a jolt of electricity at Lory, causing his armor to short out.

Seeing an opportunity, Axel tossed a Pokeball right between Blitz and Lory’s Blastoise, releasing his Shinx. “Krieg, use Spark!” he barked. Drawing electrical energy from the Blitzle beside him, Krieg dove at the Blastoise, lightning sparking around him.

“Shellshock, Protect!” Lory shouted. His Blastoise quickly retreated into its shell just before Krieg made contact, causing the Shinx to bounce harmlessly off him. “Is that all you’ve got?!” the mercenary taunted the  _Maverick_  crew.

“There’s plenty more where that came from!” Cyrus shouted before taking aim at Lory’s remaining lackey with his pistol. With the captain’s Talonflame still flying around him, the merc was unable to get out of the way in time. A few well placed shots to the shoulder quickly dropped him to the floor.

“You’ll pay for that!” Lory barked at the captain. The mercenary leader took aim at Cyrus and fired off a jet of water from one of his cannons, sending him flying backwards into the wall. Peregrine let out another fierce cry, then dived at Lory in an attempt to protect his trainer. Lory, however, managed to slip out of harm’s way.

“You alright, Captain?!” Axel called out.

“I’ll live!” Cyrus replied as he stumbled to his feet.

“Blitz, Shock Wave!”

Axel glanced back at the Blastoise to see it being hit with another bolt of electricity from Taraka’s Blitzle. The monk, meanwhile took a swing at Lory with his staff, but the impact was absorbed by the mercenary’s armor.

 _Gotta soften him up_ , Axel thought. He took aim at Lory, then sprayed him with his flamethrower, setting him on fire.

Just as in their previous encounter, Lory pressed a button on his armor, which then began to glow as it surrounded him in protective shroud of water, extinguishing the flames. “You’d think you would’ve learned your lesson,” the mercenary leader taunted. Axel cursed himself for not remembering Lory’s suit was capable of that.

“Now Shellshock, use Hydro Pump! Take out that Shinx!” Lory ordered his Pokemon. The Blastoise aimed both cannons at Krieg and unleashed a torrent of pressurized water.

“Dodge it, Krieg!” Axel shouted. “Now, Charge!” As the Shinx nimbly avoided the jets of water, he began charging up electricity. His next attack would surely be devastating.

“Peregrine, use Quick Attack!”

Lory was suddenly struck by Cyrus’s Talonflame at high speed. The captain then fired off a volley of shots as he ran back into the action, landing a few good hits on the mercenary’s armor. As Lory turned to face Cyrus again, Taraka struck him from behind with his staff, knocking him off balance.

“Blitze, Shock Wave again!” the monk then commanded his Pokemon. The Blitzle began sparking violently, unleashing her most powerful attack yet. Lory’s Blastoise was suddenly struck with a massive bolt of lightning.

“Hit him with the Blitzkrieg!” Axel shouted. “Use Spark!” His Shinx ran at the Blastoise and slammed into it whilst releasing all his stored up energy.

Smoke began rising from Lory’s Pokemon as it stumbled backwards, but it still had fight left in it. “Take those pests down with Blizzard!” Lory barked. The Blastoise took aim with its cannons and fired off a double shot of ice and snow, striking both Blitz and Krieg with staggering force. It would have surely been a double knockout if not for Taraka’s barrier, which absorbed the brunt of the attack before shattering.

Lory then aimed his cannons back behind himself and fired them off, propelling himself forward at a rapid pace. Axel and Taraka had barely enough time to dive out of the way as the mercenary leader shot by them, riding a massive wave. Now standing in the entranceway, Lory fired his cannons at the  _Maverick_  crew. Axel quickly scrambled to his feet, narrowly avoiding yet another attack.

Lory’s Blastoise moved to trap the crew and their Pokemon between the two of them, but one last Shock Wave from Blitz brought it down. “Well, this has been fun,” Lory said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. “But I’m afraid I don’t have time to hang out with you losers.”

Axel’s eyes narrowed. If past experience meant anything, then Lory was about to flee. “Before you run away, we’ll let you go if you just give us that crystal.”

“Ha!” Lory scoffed. “Fat chance. I’ll see you losers later!” With that, the mercenary leader turned and ran down the corridor.

“Peregrine, get after him!” Cyrus shouted as he took off after Lory.

“You too, Krieg!” Axel commanded, following after the captain.

The two Pokemon closed the distance and landed their attacks, but the mercenary aimed his cannons backwards and fired, rocketing him forward. “We can’t let him get away!” Axel shouted as he picked up his pace.

The  _Maverick_  crew pursued Lory back to the fork, then down the corridor they hadn’t gone down. The passageway opened up to a large balcony looking over the main chamber. Reaching the guardrail, Lory jumped up onto it, then used his cannons to launch himself off, down to the lower level where his men stood waiting.

“You’re such a coward!” Axel yelled after the mercenary leader. His voice echoed across the large open chamber as the Maelstrom mercenaries retreated from the ruins.

“Nothing we can do about it now,” Cyrus said, walking up beside Axel. “I suggest we head back to the  _Maverick_. It looks like the bastards cleared this place out, and I don’t think our assassin friend is going to show up.”

“If you do not mind, Captain, I would like to look around a little more,” Taraka said.

“Sure,” Cyrus agreed. “C’mon, Axel let’s go.”

“I can’t believe that bastard ran away again,” Axel grumbled as he followed Cyrus and Taraka away from the balcony.

“Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of him,” Cyrus said. “I’m sure you’ll have your chance to get some payback.”

Axel sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the first session of 2017. We took a two week break for Christmas and New Years’ after the previous session. When we had left off before our break, the party had landed on Freyeon and had looked for some Pokemon, with plans to investigate ruins on the planet in the next session. I used the extra time to really plan out the ruins and what would happen there. I even made some awesome maps in Roll20 for the interior and exterior of the ruins.
> 
> Of course, not everything goes according to plan. Roland’s player ended up not being able to make it, which threw off the scaling for the encounters, or so I thought. The two snipers outside proved to be very difficult for Axel's and Taraka's players to handle on their own. We thought Roland’s player was just going to be late at first, so I just had Roland cower behind a tree, expecting him to show up eventually and jump into the action. That ended up not happening, and he messaged me a little later saying he wouldn’t make it at all.
> 
> Since the fight was hard for just two, I let them call the ship for backup, having Roland return to the ship and Cyrus sub in as an NPC helper. It was easier than taking the time to rebalance everything for two players. It ended up being unnecessary, as they did far better inside the ruins. I didn’t fully account for them having electric types and they took the Blastoise down way too fast. I had a whole three phase boss fight planned with the initial encounter, a chase segment down the corridor, and finally a fight with more minions in the main room, but they wrecked Lory and his Blastoise way too quickly and my original plan just wasn’t going to work. Also, listening back to this a year after the session I found myself questioning all my choices as a GM. I used Protect against the wrong thing, I didn’t use moves when I should have, I didn’t give the grunts Pokemon, etc.
> 
> And thus Dane Lory gained the reputation of being a coward, now having fled two of two encounters with the party. It’s actually something I ended up rolling with in future encounters with him. It certainly made Axel's player hate his rival more. That’s what I call making the most of your mistakes. The failures definitely helped me improve my GMing for the future.


	22. The Hunter

Upon their return to the  _Maverick_ , Axel, Cyrus, and Taraka were greeted by Roland. “Ah, my friends, you have returned!” the merchant greeted them. “Were you able to learn anything about the men who attacked us?”

Axel frowned. Roland seemed to be feeling better, but that didn’t make the mercenary any less annoyed with him. “No thanks to you,” he grunted. “I expect the next time we get into battle that you will not run away.”

“That’s completely unreasonable!” the merchant protested. “I am a craftsman, sir, not a warrior.”

“That’s what my Pokemon and flamethrower are for,” Axel said, hefting up his weapon. “And you have Pokemon too.”

“I was caught off guard,” Roland said. “I have not been shot at in ... a very long time.”

“I’m just saying,” Axel replied. “We fought a Blastoise and your Leafeon would have been very useful.”

“You gentlemen did fine without me. You didn’t need my help.”

“But he got away,” Taraka said. “Maybe having an additional person there would have helped.”

“He had a bunch of men with him,” Cyrus said. “One extra man wouldn’t have been too useful.”

Axel smirked. “Fair enough, Captain. Like you said, we’ll probably be seeing him again.”

* * *

Taraka sat cross-legged on his bed, deep in meditation with his holoscroll. The  _Maverick_  was currently docked on the planet Erai, near the Sector 32 warp gate to refuel and resupply before making the jump to Sector 33 and then to Fraxion. While the ship was refueling, Cyrus and Erik were out picking up supplies, Roland was trying to sell his wares, and Axel was browsing the shops for an ice stone to evolve his newly caught Vulpix. As a result, Taraka more or less had the ship to himself.

The monk had chosen to stay on the ship and ponder the next steps of his pilgrimage. Taraka still wanted to focus on finding the mysterious assassin hunting his fellow monks, but he knew he had to complete his journey as well. He wished that he and his crewmates had been able to capture Dane Lory back on Freyeon. He would have very much liked to have known about the crystal he had seen him take. It hadn’t occurred to Taraka when he had first laid eyes upon it, but now that he’d had some time to meditate on it, he could not help but notice the similarity to the glowing gem in his visions. The fact that this gem was found in ruins similar to those where he had received his first vision could not be a coincidence.

 _It must be the key to unlocking my next vision_ , Taraka thought.  _If only we had been able to stop him from escaping with it._  The monk couldn’t help but feel discouraged, but he knew he couldn’t give up hope. Maybe the captain was right; perhaps they would encounter Dane Lory again and would be able to find out what he did with the crystal.

“Alright everyone,” Cyrus’s voice suddenly sounded over the comms. “The ship is fully fueled and the supplies are loaded. We lift off in ten.”

Taraka opened his eyes. There were obstacles that remained in his path, but he would get past them in time. In the meantime, there was another set of ruins to visit.

* * *

Roland joined the rest of the crew at the front of the ship as the  _Maverick_  dropped out of warp space in the Anan system in Sector 33. Having had a few days of rest, the merchant had gotten over getting shot at on Freyeon. He felt bad about completely shutting down during their encounter with those mercenaries and wanted to make it up to his crewmates. Roland was determined to join them for the exploration of Fraxion, whatever dangers might be waiting.

Roland heard Cyrus voice speaking as he arrived. “Let’s be smart this time,” the captain said. “Let’s scan this world before we land. We need to make sure there aren’t any mercenary ships waiting for us.”

“That sounds like a marvelous idea,” Roland said. “Knowing what we’re dealing with will prevent any surprises like last time.”

“Exactly,” Cyrus agreed.

“Scans seem clear, Captain,” Ace reported a few moments later. “Just some volcanic activity.”

“That’s a relief,” Roland said.

“We’ll be careful nevertheless,” Cyrus. “The scanners didn’t pick up anything on the planet where we encountered the assassin.”

Axel smirked. “You know me, Captain,” the mercenary said. “I’m always careful.”

Cyrus let out a laugh. “Keep on telling yourself that.” The  _Maverick_ ’s captain then reached for the comms. “Alright, Anya, take us down.”

“You got it,” the Romanov pilot responded. Moments later, the ship began descending into Fraxion’s atmosphere.

Out the viewport, Roland could see vast forests and expansive mountain ranges dotted with volcanoes. Despite the danger presented by the active volcanoes, the view was quite a pleasant one.

Unlike on Freyeon, Anya was able to land a lot closer to the ruins, which were built upon the slopes of a dormant volcano. The pilot set the ship down on a large flat plateau a short ways down from the ruins. Once the ship had settled, the crew gathered in the cargo hold.

“Alright,” Cyrus said. “Axel, you go with Roland and Taraka to check out the ruins. Ace, you stay here and protect the ship, just in case.”

“What about you, my good sir?” Roland inquired.

“I’m going to take a look around,” the captain explained. “I just want to make sure there aren’t any disguised ships or anything like that here.”

“Sounds like a plan, boss,” Axel said. “Alright you two, let’s get moving.”

Along with Taraka, Roland followed Axel as he began walking down the ramp. “It’s quite cold here,” the merchant observed as he stepped onto the planet’s surface. Luckily, his coat was quite warm. “I did not expect that on a world with so many volcanoes.”

“Speaking of volcanoes, how about we check out the volcanic crater up there?” Axel suggested, pointing toward the summit. “I’d like to see if there are any fire Pokemon there. It’s not that much further past the entrance to the ruins.”

“A fine idea,” Roland said. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find many shards there.”

“We may want to visit the ruins first,” Taraka said. “I do not wish to get beaten to the artifacts again.”

“It will only take a little extra time,” Axel replied. “If we don’t find anything interesting we can go right to the ruins.”

Taraka nodded. “Very well,” the monk agreed.

* * *

“Aha! Another one!” Roland exclaimed as he fished a red-colored shard out from the volcanic rocks. So far, the merchant had discovered quite a few in the volcanic crater. He was glad Axel had suggested checking it out.

“Hey guys!” Roland suddenly heard Axel shout. He looked up to see the mercenary waving. “I found some Pokemon!”

“I shall be right there, sir!” Roland called back to him. He stood up and began walking over to the mercenary.

Arriving at Axel’s location at the same time as Taraka, Roland found him peering over a rock. The two joined him, spotting a Sneasel and a pair of Swinubs just on the other side. “I want that Sneasel,” the mercenary said.

“That is fine by me, sir,” Roland replied. “I shall try for one of the Swinubs.”

“I will help you with your captures,” Taraka said.

“Alright, let’s do it,” Axel said, getting to his feet. He then pulled out a Pokeball and released one of his Ninetales, this one the fire type. Roland and Taraka followed suit, releasing Duosion and Ponyta respectively.

“Mugi, use Fire Spin!” Axel commanded his Ninetales, directing her after one of the Swinubs. The Pokemon let loose a swirling vortex of flames, completely engulfing the Swinub. When the dust settled, Roland could see the Swinub lying unconscious. He couldn’t help but be amazed by the power of Axel’s Pokemon.

“Woops,” Axel said, laughing. “Sorry about that. Guess she’s stronger than I thought.”

“It is alright, my friend,” Roland said. “I will catch the other one.”

“Blaze, Flame Wheel,” Taraka commanded his Ponyta. The monk’s Pokemon galloped for the Sneasel, surrounded by flames. The Ponyta collided with his target in a fiery explosion, causing the Sneasel to go flying backwards. Angered, the Sneasel sprang back off a rock, claws bared. The furious Pokemon swiped at its assailant, but the Ponyta was much too fast and bolted out of its reach.

“Now is your chance,” Taraka said, turning to Axel.

“Right.” The mercenary pulled out a great ball and threw it at the Sneasel, capturing it with ease.

Finally realizing what was happening, the remaining Swinub let out a terrified squeal. It then spewed a torrent of mud from its mouth at Axel’s Ninetales. Despite being a fire Pokemon, the Ninetales remained unfazed by the attack.

While the Swinub was distracted by Axel’s Pokemon, Roland began creeping up on it with his Duosion. “Pride, use Psyshock,” the merchant commanded his Pokemon once they were close enough. Unfortunately, the Duonsion’s psychic strike missed the mark. Turning to Roland and Pride in fear, the Swinub unleashed a powdery blast of snow at them. Roland held his arm in front of his face to protect himself from the biting cold, but, fortunately, the attack didn’t cause much harm or his Duosion.

“Mugi, use Ember!” Axel then ordered his Ninetales. The fiery fox spit out a lick of flame at Swinub, doing a real number on it and opening it up for a capture. Roland seized the opportunity and ran up close to the Pokemon. He pulled out a Pokeball, then pressed it against the Swinub, successfully capturing it.

“Ha ha! Well done, gentlemen!” Roland exclaimed with a chuckle. “Well done indeed.”

“Well, we got what we came for,” Axel said. “Now, let’s head down to the ruins.”

* * *

“This place seems familiar,” Taraka said as he and his crewmates stepped out of the entrance corridor of the ruins into a large open chamber.

“It looks exactly like the last one,” Axel said.

Taraka nodded. He stepped up to the guardrail on the edge of the terrace they stood upon and gazed down to the floor below. Indeed, these ruins were much like those the  _Maverick_  crew had visited on Freyeon. The same upper terrace wrapped around the entire perimeter of the chamber, with the same two flights of stairs leading down to the lower floor. Unlike the Freyeon ruins, however, this place seemed empty of any life.

“Fortunately, there is no one shooting at us this time,” Roland commented. “That’s a good sign.”

“Or a bad one,” Axel said. “Maybe Dane Lory and his men cleared this place out too.”

“I hope that is not the case,” Taraka said. If there were any artifacts that could potentially aid him on his journey here, the monk wanted to get to them first.

“Only one way to find out,” Axel said. “Come on.” The mercenary nodded in the direction of the stairs, then started walking toward them.

The three explorers descended the stairs to the lower level, then crossed the chamber to the corridor entrance on the far side. Based on his experience on Freyeon, Taraka’s intuition told him that this passageway would lead to a set of stairs and, eventually, to a room similar to the one where he and his crewmates encountered Dane Lory.

Sure enough, that is exactly what happened. After ascending the stairs, the trio came to a fork, with one corridor leading to a balcony overlooking the main chamber, and the other leading further in.

“Man, this place is  _exactly_ the same,” Axel commented as they walked down the passage leading deeper into the ruins.

“So it would seem,” Taraka agreed.

“I bet there’s another one of those crystals at the end of this hallway,” Axel continued.

“Perhaps.” Taraka hoped the mercenary was right. He very much wanted to get his hands on a crystal like the one on Freyeon, especially if it was indeed the gem in his visions.

As they stepped out into the room at the end of the corridor, Taraka noted the familiar surroundings. The room had a hexagonal shape to it, and a pedestal stood at its center. Unlike the one in the Freyeon ruins, this one was bare.

“So it was kind of a waste coming here, wasn’t it?” Axel asked taking a look around the room.

“No,” Taraka said. “Something feels off.” As the monk gazed around the room, he noticed that the walls seemed to be lined with what looked like some sort of equipment. It was hard to tell exactly what it was because it was so run down and worn away. Thinking back, Taraka remembered how barren this room had been in the Freyon ruins. It had likely been cleaned out by Dane Lory’s men. These ruins, however, appeared not to have been disturbed in a very long time … except for the pedestal. Something about it just seemed off to the monk.

Approaching the pedestal, Taraka reached out with his senses. He closed his eyes and shut out the world around him, focused only on the pedestal. As he concentrated his energies, a vision filled the monk’s mind. He saw the room just as it had been when he and his crewmates arrived, except a crystal sat upon the pedestal. It was same size and shape as the one Dane Lory took, except it was a deep but vivid shade of blue instead of red.

The room was still and otherwise empty, but a sudden movement caught Taraka’s attention. He saw a familiar shadowy figure slink into the room and approach the pedestal. It was the assassin he was seeking. The figure grabbed the crystal and stashed it away. The assassin’s head then turned at the sudden sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor. Just as in the ruins where he first spotted this mysterious individual, the figure simply vanished. Moment’s later, Taraka saw himself, along with his two crewmates, run into the room.

“He was just here,” Taraka said, opening his eyes.

“Who was?” Roland asked.

“The assassin,” the monk explained. He then quickly relayed what he had just seen to his crewmates.

“Damn it,” Axel cursed. “You were right, Taraka. We wasted time trying to find Pokemon.”

“Nothing can be done about it now,” Taraka said.

“Hmm, do you find it odd that this assassin and those mercenaries both took crystals from ruins right before we arrived?” Roland asked.

“Do you think the assassin is working with Dane Lory and Maelstrom?” Axel asked.

“I do not think so,” Taraka said. “But it is certainly possible.”

“Stupid invisible man,” Roland said. “We have to find him and get to the bottom of this.”

“If you saw us get here right after him, then he might still be here!” Axel shouted in realization. “Come on!” The mercenary ran for the exit, his armored boots clanking loudly along the floor.

Taraka and Roland followed just behind, just barely keeping up with him as he rushed back down the stairs and out into the main chamber. Taraka watched as his compatriot rapidly scanned the room, searching for any trace of the assassin. “I command you to show yourself!” Axel shouted. “Turn off your cloaking device and face us!”

The chamber fell silent for a few moments, then Taraka heard the distinct sound of laughter echoing in the large open space. The voice sounded digitally distorted, but it was unmistakably Human. Taraka focused, trying to pinpoint where the laughter was originating.

“I think it’s coming from up there,” Taraka said to his crewmates, pointing up to the balcony that overlooked the chamber.

Sure enough, the shadowy form of the assassin materialized before the monk’s very eyes. “How perceptive of you,” the voice said. The figure then pulled out the blue crystal. In the darkness, Taraka could see it faintly reflecting the light. “Looking for this?”

“Yes I’m looking for it!” Axel shouted. “Give it to me now!”

The assassin laughed, not intimidated by the mercenary in the slightest. “If you want it, you’re going to have to take it.”

“I think we can do that!” Axel shouted back. He then grabbed his Charizard’s Pokeball off his belt and sent her out. Taraka and Roland followed his lead, releasing Togekiss and Duosion.

Another laugh echoed down from the balcony. “If it’s a battle you want, then it’s a battle you’ll get.” With that, the assassin pulled out two Pokeballs and tossed them down to the ground below. As the metallic spheres hit the floor, releasing the Pokemon within, the Assassin jumped down, landing gracefully behind the two Pokemon, a Malamar and a Charizard.

“So, you’ve got a Charizard too,” Axel said as he stared the assassin down. “Just turn over that crystal and maybe we don’t have to fight.”

The assassin just laughed and stepped forward, out of the shadows. In the light, Taraka could see the assassin clearly. The figure was hooded and garbed all in black. The skin-tight ensemble left very little to the imagination when it came to the unmistakably feminine form of its wearer. Her hood obscured most of her face, only allowing Taraka to catch a glimpse of her mouth as she spoke. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Then we’ll just have to make you!” Axel shouted. “Ritsu, use Flamethrower! Fry that Malamar!” The mercenary’s Charizard let out a mighty roar before lifting off into the air. She flew above the assassin’s Pokemon and let loose a surge of flames. It looked to Taraka that the attack hurt the Malamar quite a bit, but he could tell it was fierce and well trained.

The assassin laughed. “You’re going to have to do better that,” she said as a psionic blade extended out from her wrist. She took a step forward as her two Pokemon stared the  _Maverick_  crew down. Her Charizard let out a menacing growl and bared its claws.

“Well gentlemen,” Roland said nervously, beginning to back away. “This is the part where I run away.”

Axel shot the merchant a sharp glance. “Don’t you dare,” he said threateningly.

The assassin let out another taunting laugh. “Oh, you’re not going  _anywhere_.” With that, she leapt forward at Roland’s Duosion, blade raised to strike. As she landed on her feet, the assassin brought her arm down, jabbing her blade into the Pokemon.

“No, not Pride!” Roland cried out. “Quick, use Psyshock!” he shouted to his Pokemon. The Duosion let loose a psychic blast at his assailant, but she was too quick on her feet. She jumped back as the psychic energy exploded the floor where she had just been standing.

“You may be dodgy, but what about your Pokemon?!” Axel shouted before unleashing a surge of flames from his flamethrower at the Assassin’s Malamar.

“Sirius, you too!” Taraka shouted. “Fairy Wind!” The monk’s Togekiss let loose an attack of her own, blowing the Malamar backwards. It was a devastating attack, but the Malamar wasn’t going down that easily. The psychic squid Pokemon floated back into place, both of its tentacles raised. It then flew forward with surprising speed, moving between Sirius and Pride, swiping at both Pokemon with its tentacles. Fortunately, both were able to maneuver out of harm’s way.

Meanwhile, Axel directed his Pokemon after the assassin herself. “Get her, Ritsu! Use Fire Fang!” The Charized flew forward and latched onto the assassin’s arm with her fiery jaws. Ritsu would have surely drawn blood if her flames hadn’t instantly cauterized the wound.

Even with her arm clamped between the Charizard’s jaws, the assassin remained calm and composed. She simply maneuvered herself as her own Charizard rushed in and ripped into Ritsu with its razor-sharp claws, forcing her to release her jaws. As she yanked her arm back, she spun around and slashed at Ritsu with her blade, driving her back into her own Charizard, which them stomped her to the ground.

“No!” Axel shouted. The mercenary ran over and recalled his wounded and unconscious Charizard, then sent out his Shinx. “You’ll pay for that!”

Taraka could only look on with shock at how easily the assassin and her Pokemon had brought Ritsu down. He began to worry that he and his crewmates might not make it out alive. Suddenly, the assassin turned to look at the monk. Under the hood, all Taraka could see was a taunting smile on her face and her eyes, glowing bright with psionic energy. As her eyes lit up, Taraka could feel her mind probing his own.  _No you don’t_ , the monk thought, snapping back to his senses and focusing his will. He drove her mental probe back, then threw up a psionic barrier.

“Alright, Krieg!” Axel shouted. “Take care of that damn Charizard! Use Spark!” The Shinx began glowing bright with electrical energy as he rushed at the enemy Charizard, then leapt at it. As he flew through the air, the Pokemon began changing form, evolving into a Luxio. As the newly evolved Krieg slammed into the assassin’s Charizard, his sparking electrical discharge dissipated the illusion surrounding it, revealing it to be a Zoroark!

“Aw, you ruined the  _surprise_ ,” the assassin said tauntingly. “No matter.” Her eyes flashed again, and Taraka realized she had been telepathically commanding her Pokemon. Her Malamar floated over and took a swing at Axel’s Luxio, but Krieg dodged out of the way. The Zoroark then darted to Roland’s Duosion, claws raised to strike.

“Hang in there, Pride!” Roland shouted. “Use Reflect!” The Duosion threw up a psychic barrier of his own just in time, but the attack was still devastating, leaving Roland no choice but to recall him. “Your turn, Gluttony,” the merchant said as he sent out his Swirlix instead.

As her Pokemon made their attacks, the assassin deftly maneuvered around the room, avoiding the licks of flame Axel was spewing at her. As she hopped over the mercenary’s Luxio, she ran her psionic blade through him, doing a real number on the Pokemon.

“Hold on, Krieg!” Axel shouted. “Charge up and prepare for another attack!”

“I don’t think so,” the assassin taunted as she stabbed the Luxio again, bringing him down before he even got the chance to store up any electricity. She then jumped away, landing beside Roland’s Swirlix right as her Malamar flew through, slashing through the Pokemon with one tentacle and Sirius with the other.

 _They need more protection_ , Taraka thought. The monk poured more energy into his psionic barrier, hoping to harden it against the onslaught. He then issued a command to his Togekiss. “Sirius, Fairy Wind! Bring down that Malamar!” Sirius unleashed her attack immediately, finally taking out one of the assassin’s Pokemon.

“Gluttony, use Fairy Wind as well!” Roland then ordered his own Pokemon. His Swirlix launched her attack against the Zoroark, but she wasn’t yet strong enough to be that effective of a combatant. The Zoroark, unfazed by the attack, rushed Gluttony and swiped at her several times with its claws, bringing her down with merciless efficiency.

“You’re going to need to do better than these weakling Pokemon,” the assassin said as she recalled her Malamar. “At least make it so I have to try.”

Seeing that taunting grin on the assassin’s face filled Taraka with anger.  _She’s just toying with us_. As his rage built, Taraka felt a swell of psionic energy within him. That energy manifested itself as a glowing red orb that looked almost like a flame. Focusing on this ball, Taraka willed it to fly at the assassin. As it made contact, her suit began sparking and she stumbled backwards.

“What the hell?” Taraka heard her say. Whatever he had done had caused some damage to her systems and he was able to hear her actual voice. It sounded vaguely familiar, but in the heat of battle he couldn’t quite place it.

Although he was surprised by what had just happened, Taraka quickly snapped back to the moment. He couldn’t get distracted now. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind on that Zoroark!” he commanded his Pokemon. The Togekiss flew over to the Zoroark and unleashed her attack, finally landing a significant hit on it. Finally, it seemed to be wearing out.

Axel and Roland were quick to follow up. The mercenary set the illusion Pokemon aflame while the merchant released his Lileep beside it. “Sloth, use Ancient Power!” Rolad commanded.

In response to this onslaught of attacks, the Zoroark let out a loud shriek, then rushed its assailants. It swiped through the Lileep with one set of claws, and the Togekiss with the other. Fortunately, Taraka’s barrier kept both safe.

“Alright, Sirius,” Taraka said. “Hit it again and take it out.”

“Oh no you don’t,” the assassin said. She jumped up and slashed through Sirius as she fired off another Fairy Wind attack. The psionic blade inflicted a pretty serious wound, but failed to prevent the Togekiss from bringing down her Zoroark.

“Not so tough now, are ya?!” Axel shouted, firing off another stream of flames as the assassin landed. She quickly rolled out of the way as the fire rushed past.

“Hmm, you’re stronger than you look,” the assassin said as she recalled her Zoroark. She then pulled the crystal out again. “You want it? Catch!” She then chucked the gem high into the air.

“Sirius, grab it!” Taraka shouted to his Togekiss as he tracked the crystal with his eyes. The monk watched with bated breath as his Pokemon flew to retrieve the crystal before it hit the ground. He let out a sigh of relief once she safely retrieved it. The relief was only momentary, as when Taraka turned back to the assassin, she was gone.

“Damn it, she’s gone!” Axel shouted angrily.

“She must have cloaked herself again,” Taraka said.

“I think we managed to fight her off,” Roland said, looking nervously around the room.

“For now,” Taraka said. “She knows of me now, so we’ll have to keep our guards up.”

“Don’t worry, pal,” Axel said, walking up to the monk. “We’ll keep you safe.” The mercenary playfully patted Taraka on the back. “Now, let’s have a look at that crystal.”

“Right,” Taraka agreed. “Sirius!” His Togekiss flew over and presented the crystal. Taraka reached out to grab it, and, as his fingers closed around it, the monk was struck with a vision.

* * *

Taraka found himself standing in the center a room. It was a room that was quite familiar looking, with six evenly sized walls and a pedestal at its center. Taraka knew it to be the same room at the heart of the ruins on Fraxion, except it was not in a ruined state. The walls and floor were immaculately clean, and functioning machinery lined the walls. Wires and cables ran along the floor, connecting the machinery to the pedestal, upon which sat the blue crystal, protected by a glass dome.

The monk watched as people moved about the room, fiddling with the machinery. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he guessed that they were scientists, and this was a lab of some sort. The crystal seemed to be at the core of their project, whatever it was.

Suddenly, the man who appeared to be in charge gave a signal, and another man flipped a switch. Power began coursing through the wires and cables along the floor to the pedestal. The crystal began glowing with a fierce light that completely blinded Taraka.

When his vision cleared, the monk found himself standing in the main chamber of the ruins once again. His arm was still outstretched and his hand was still clutching the crystal tightly. Both Axel and Roland were looking at him with expressions of concern on their faces.

“You alright there, Taraka?” Axel asked.

“I …” Taraka trailed off as he retracted his arm. “I am fine,” he said, a slight smile appearing on his face. “It was just a vision.”

Taraka placed the crystal into folds of his robes and pulled out his holoscroll. Another of its sections was glowing with pale purple light. The monk’s smile widened. He was halfway there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, this was certainly an interesting session to write up. For whatever reason, my audio didn’t record, so the only things I could hear while listening to the session were the players and the music and sound effects in Roll20. Fortunately, I could rely on the video, the context provided by what the players were saying, and my memory of what happened to figure everything out. If I hadn’t mentioned it here, you probably wouldn’t have even known! It was actually a lot easier to do it than I expected.
> 
> Onto the events of this chapter, we opened up with some RP to resolve Roland not participating in the previous session’s events now that we had all the players again. To the credit of Roland’s player, he did a great job of taking us making his character essentially run away and incorporating it into his character. He even made his character want to run away in this session’s combat encounter.
> 
> After that, I added a little scene with Taraka to remind everyone about his pilgrimage and to provide some context to the events of the previous chapter as well as this one. It was a simple scene, but it definitely adds a lot.
> 
> The party decided to his up the second planet they learned about on Khalimuck this session, so that’s what we did. Learning about the planet’s climate and environment, Axel's player really wanted to catch some Pokemon, hoping to catch a particular one from a previous campaign, but no one rolled really well, so I just threw some random stuff at them. Then it was onto the ruins. I was a bit lazy as a GM and reused the same layout as the previous ruins, and even the same object to collect at the end, just a different color, but I think I did a solid job of improving most of the events outside of that.
> 
> I kind of decided on the spot that they would fight the assassin this time because I’d had her built for a while. I found it funny that the players had kept referring to her as a him when they didn’t know much about the character, because it made the reveal more satisfying. All the times I’d referred to her as a him in the writing before this wasn’t intentional deception on my part, it was them not knowing. So when Taraka's player used his abilities to scry the pedestal I was just oh like you see the assassin come take the crystal and then you see yourselves enter the room. There was some good tension there. Axel's player needed to leave a bit early, a couple turns into the fight, so he left instructions on what his next few moves would be and I ran his character and Pokemon for the rest of the fight. I was a bit sad that he missed the Zoroark reveal because I know he would have had the strongest reaction of the three players, but it was still fun. The fight was tough at first, but the tide turned in their favor toward the end, but they certainly haven’t seen the last her.
> 
> Taraka's player had also picked up the Hex Maniac class after the last session, and we sort of just glossed over how he got new powers, but for the writing I sort of wrote it as new abilities starting to manifest, triggered by the dire situation. Taraka will be studying these new powers and honing them in coming chapters.
> 
> And at the end they claimed the crystal and it triggered Taraka’s second scroll vision! How mysterious. The plot progresses. This also ended up being the last session Roland’s player attended before dropping out of the campaign. Life stuff came up, it happens sometimes.


	23. The Dragon of the Desert

“What do you think it is?” Cyrus asked.

“I’m not sure,” Erik replied. “It seems familiar somehow, but I can’t place my finger on it.”

The  _Maverick_ ’s crew was gathered in the engineer’s workshop as he examined the crystal that had been recovered on Fraxion. The ship was currently in orbit around the planet while they figured out what to do next.

“I would assume that is because the ruins where we found this were built by the same people who built the ones where we found Ace,” Taraka offered. “I believe my visions have all but confirmed this.”

“Maybe,” Erik said, stroking his mustache.

“Did your visions say anything about how valuable this crystal is?” Axel asked.

Taraka let out a laugh. He found his crewmate’s lack of understanding of psionic visions amusing. “That is not how it works,” he told the mercenary.

“We shouldn’t sell this thing, anyway,” Erik said. “It’s important, whatever it is.”

Axel frowned. “Then what was the point of even coming out here?”

“To find that assassin, remember?” Taraka said, nudging the mercenary in the side with his elbow.

“Oh, right,” Axel said. “But she got away.”

“I’m probably a target now, though,” Taraka said. “We’ll see her again.”

Alex punched his fist into his open palm. “And when we do, it’s gonna be payback time.”

“In the meantime, we should focus on figuring out what this crystal is,” Cyrus said.

“Right,” Axel said. “I don’t suppose you know what it is, Ace?”

“I still don’t remember anything,” the android replied. “I know just as much as you do about this thing.”

“Hmm, perhaps we should allow the experts to continue studying it,” Roland suggested.

“I agree,” Erik said. “I’ll let you know when I learn anything.”

Cyrus nodded. “Alright. We’ll get out of your hair then.”

Taraka followed behind the captain as he stepped out of the room. The others were not far behind.

“Alright, gentlemen,” Roland said. “I do think I shall retire for the evening.”

“All of you should get some rest,” Cyrus replied. “You’ve certainly earned it.”

“Thank you,” Taraka said, nodding. The monk turned to enter his room, but Anya’s voice sounded over the comm before he could open the door.

“Hey, Captain, you’re gonna want to take a look at this.”

* * *

“What, exactly, am I looking at here?” Cyrus asked.

“A signal of some kind,” Anya replied. “The scanners picked up an anomaly on this planet here. Venbaxxen.” The Romanov pilot pointed to the next closest planet to the star at the center of the Anan system from Fraxion on the navchart. “The signal is so degraded that the scanners nearly missed it.”

“What do you think, boss?” Axel asked. “Shall we check it out?”

Cyrus stroked his facial scruff. “I don’t see why not,” the captain said. “Anya, take us in.”

“Got it,” the pilot replied. She hit the throttle, and the  _Maverick_  broke from Fraxion’s orbit.

“What do you know about this planet?” Taraka asked as the ship began to fly across the system.

“Not much. This system is barely charted,” Cyrus replied. “This only says that its a desert planet,” he continued, tapping on the navchart screen. “We can find out more once we get into orbit.”

A few moments later, Anya brought the  _Maverick_  into orbit around Venbaxxen. From this closser range, the ship could get a more detailed scan of the planet. Being much closer to the sun than Fraxion, Venbaxxen was a much hotter world. The planet was one vast, arid desert except for the areas that were covered in high-salinity oceans. Despite these harsh conditions, the scanners were picking up lots of life signs.

“Well, this seems like an unforgiving world,” Cyrus commented.

“I bet there’s a lot of Pokemon down there, though,” Axel said.

“Tough ones too, if they can survive those conditions,” Cyrus said. “But that’s beside the point. Anya, can you get a fix on where that signal is coming from?”

The pilot shook her head. “Not really,” she said. “I’ve narrowed it down to one region, but I can’t seem to pin down its exact origin.”

“Guess we’ll just have to do it the old fashioned way,” the captain replied. “Take us down.”

* * *

“There’s nothing here,” Axel grumbled as he and Taraka walked along the Venbaxxen coastline.

“I am sure something will turn up,” Taraka said cheerfully.

“Speak for yourself.”

It had been a couple of hours since the  _Maverick_  had touched down on Venbaxxen, and the ship’s crew had split up to cover more ground as they explored the planet. The captain had taken Ace and gone inland from the rocky cliff overlooking the ocean where the ship was parked, while Axel and Taraka had decided to walk along the coast, hoping to find some water Pokemon. Meanwhile, Anya was working on cleaning up the signal, hoping to get a lock on where it was coming from.

As Axel and Taraka made their way down the shoreline, the mercenary suddenly noticed that the monk had stopped. Axel turned around to see that Taraka was picking something off a bush. “Hey, what are you doing?” the mercenary called out as he began walking back to his crewmate.

“Collecting apricorns,” Taraka replied, showing Axel a green fruit-like object. “One of the traders on Khalimuck showed me how to make them into Pokeballs. If I can grow my own, then we don’t need to spend money on Pokeballs anymore.”

“Huh, that’s a pretty good idea,” Axel said.

A slight smirk appeared on the monk’s face as he stood back up from his crouched position. “Indeed. Now, let us continue.”

The two continued their trek, but Axel wasn’t convinced that they were going to find anything on the coast, least of all the source of whatever anomalous signal they were tracking. The mercenary looked inland, but he saw nothing of interest. The desert landscape was just as desolate as the coast seemed to be.

“Look,” Taraka suddenly said, pointing toward the waves lapping against the sandy shoreline a ways ahead. Looking in that direction, Axel spotted a lone Kingler roaming the beach.

“It’s something,” Axel said, reaching for his Pokeballs. He wasn’t particularly interested in capturing a Kingler, but the mercenary wanted something to show for after coming all the way out here. He grabbed the Pokeball containing his recently evolved Ninetales that he had caught on Freyeon and sent her out as he began to approach the crustacean. Taraka followed just behind him and released his Togekiss. The Kingler, noticing them approaching, began opening and closing its claws in a threatening manner in an attempt to scare them off.

Taraka put up a psionic barrier as they continued to close in. “Sirius, Fairy Wind,” the monk then commanded his Pokemon. The Togekiss flew up to the Kingler and began rapidly flapping her wings, pelting the crab Pokemon with a blast of air.

“Tsumugi, use Dazzling Gleam!” Axel then ordered his own Pokemon before the Kingler had a chance to react. The Ninetales ran up to her target and unleashed a bright burst of light and energy.

When the light cleared, the Kingler looked to have taken a pretty good hit. However, it also looked quite pissed off. It clamped its big claw shut menacingly, and it began to shine with a metallic sheen. The crab Pokemon then brought it down hard on Tsumugi, delivering a nasty blow.

“Damn, that thing is strong,” Axel said.

“One more hit should weaken it enough to capture, though,” Taraka said. “Sirius, you know what to do.” The monk’s Togekiss let loose another Fairy Wind attack, but it seemed to be a bit stronger than he expected. The Kingler collapsed to the ground, defeated.

Axel laughed. “I guess it was weaker than you thought. Oh well; no big loss. At least we can have some fried crab tonight.” The mercenary then recalled his Ninetales. “Now, how about we head back to the ship and heal up our Pokemon? We can see if Anya’s made any progress, and if not, we can explore further inland. I have a feeling we’ll find better Pokemon there.”

Taraka nodded in agreement. “That sounds like a good idea.”

* * *

“Well, I’ve at least begun to narrow down its origin point,” Anya explained. “It’s somewhere in this direction.” The pilot pointed to a spot on the holographically projected map of Venbaxxen on the display. It was a ways inland, but in the opposite direction of where Cyrus and Ace had headed.

“Then I guess that’s where we’re headed,” Axel replied. “Call the captain and Ace and let ‘em know to head in that direction. They can meet up with us on the way.”

“You got it,” Anya said. “Oh, before you go, Erik was looking for you, Axel.”

“Oh, really now?” Axel asked. “Did he figure out what that crystal is?”

The pilot shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“I guess I’ll just have to find out, then. Taraka, I’ll meet you at the cargo ramp in a few minutes.”

“Alright,” the monk said. He nodded as Axel turned to exit the room.

A few minutes later, Axel stepped into Erik’s lab to find the engineer still examining the crystal. “What’s up, Erik?” the mercenary asked to get his attention.

“Ah, Axel,” Erik said. “Just the man I wanted to see.”

“You figure out what that crystal is?” Axel asked.

“No, I’m afraid not,” the Genevan engineer said. “But I have something for you.” Erik stood up and walked over to one of the many storage units in his workshop. “When you told me about how Dane Lory’s suit could emulate the Pokemon move Rain Dance the other day, it got me thinking.” He paused for a moment as he began rummaging through the drawers of the storage unit. “What if you had a way to emulate Sunny Day?”

Axel let out a loud laugh of approval. “I like the way you think, Erik.”

“Here,” Erik said, turning to face the mercenary. “Take a look at these.” The engineer handed Axel a few metallic spheres that looked like grenades of some sort.

“What are they?” Axel asked.

“I call them solar grenades,” Erik said, an excited grin on his face. “They’re powered by gems made from those shards Roland has been collecting. When they explode, the gems  _should_ sustain the reaction and create a miniature sun for a few minutes, much like some Pokemon are capable of … theoretically, of course.”

“Erik, you’re a damn genius,” Axel replied, a grin appearing on his face as well.

“Only if they work,” Erik said. “Go on, take them with you and try them out. Since we’re on a desert planet it shouldn’t be too much of an issue if something goes wrong.”

“Will do, buddy,” Axel said, slapping the engineer on the back.

* * *

“There really is nothing on this planet,” Axel said as he and Taraka walked across the desert. “Just sand and rocks. You would think that would make whatever is causing that signal easier to find.”

“Apparently not,” Taraka replied. “I am sure we will discover its origin soon enough, though.”

“Aren’t you an optimist,” Axel said.

As the two continued on, Axel suddenly heard a rumbling sound. He paused and began to look around, searching for its source.

“What is it?” Taraka asked.

“Do you hear that?”

The rumbling grew louder and the ground beneath them began to shake. “That can’t be good,” Taraka said. “What do you suppose is causing it?”

“Whatever it is, I don’t like the sound of it,” Axel replied. He reached for his Pokeballs, and released his Alakazam. Taraka followed suit and sent out his Togekiss as well.

“Look there!” Taraka called out, pointing to something moving in the distance.

Squinting to see better in the sunlight, Axel thought he could make out a gray object moving along the ground. It was headed directly toward them! “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Taraka said. “It looks like … a fin?”

As the object moved closer, the rumbling grew more intense, and its shape became more apparent. Taraka was right; it did look like a fin, cutting through the desert sands.

When it was only a few meters away, the fin began to rise up, and a Garchomp emerged from beneath the ground. It wasn’t just any Garchomp, however. It was absolutely massive. The Pokemon must have been at least four times the size of a normal Garchomp!

“That thing is huge!” Axel shouted as he raised his flamethrower at the beast.

The Garchomp stared Axel, Taraka, and their Pokemon down, showing its rows of razor-sharp teeth. It looked hungry, and Axel had a feeling that they were going to be its next meal. A few moments passed, then the giant Garchomp ran forward with frightening speed. It let out a fierce growl as it swept its long tail along the ground, kicking up a sandstorm.

“Look out!” Taraka shouted.

The monk attempted to dive out of the way of the beast’s tail, and Axel followed his lead, but it was to no avail. Axel felt a heavy impact as the tail made contact with him. With one mighty swing of its tail, the Garchomp had swept both Axel and Taraka off their feet!

Luckily, both of their Pokemon managed to avoid the Garchomp’s powerful tail. Taraka’s Togekiss flew up and out of danger, while Axel’s Alakazam maneuvered himself to safety with his telekinetic abilities.

“Ryner, use Ice Beam!” Axel called out to his Pokemon, ignoring the pain shooting through his body. Turning to face the deadly dragon Pokemon, the mercenary’s Alakazam fired off a beam of super cold energy, freezing one of its legs solid.

Undeterred by its frozen leg, the Garchomp let out a ferocious roar, then lunged at Ryner. Before the Alakazam could react, the Garchomp snapped him up with its jaws, sinking its teeth in and drawing blood. Ryner quickly teleported out from the beast’s mouth, but the damage had already been done.

As the beast let out another frightening roar, Axel scrambled to cover behind a large rock. Taraka quickly joined him and threw up a psionic barrier to protect the two of them from the Garchomp. For the time being, they were protected from the dragon Pokemon and the sandstorm, but it wasn’t going to last.

“This is a bad situation,” Taraka said

“No kidding,” Axel replied. “We’re gonna die here if we don’t get some help.” The mercenary quickly reached for his radio. “Captain, we’ve got a problem here!” he shouted into it.

“What is it?” Cyrus voice crackled over the radio.

“We’re being attacked by a giant Garchomp! We need help!”

“What’s the situation? We’re still an hour out from your location,” the captain said.

“We’re not gonna make it that long!” Axel shouted. “We need help  _now!_ ”

“Anya, can you pick us up and fly us to their location?” Cyrus asked.

“Sure thing, Captain,” the pilot’s voice sounded. “It’ll take a few minutes, but I’ll be there ASAP.”

“You hear that, Axel?” Cyrus asked. “Help is on the way. Just hold out a little longer.”

“We don’t have much of a choice!”

“We can make it,” Taraka said encouragingly.

“We’ll see,” Axel replied. He then took a peek over the rock to see the Garchomp taking swings at their Pokemon. The Togekiss and Alakazam were dodging well enough, but the sandstorm was starting to wear them down.

 _We need to deal with that sandstorm_ , the mercenary thought. That’s when he remembered the grenades Erik had given him.  _Come on, Erik. Don’t let me down_ , Axel thought as he pulled out one of the grenades. He looked at it for a moment before stepping out from behind the rock and throwing it into the air high above the battling Pokemon.

Looking up, Axel saw a bright flash through the sand flying through the air. The flash was then followed by a shockwave of hot air. Axel could feel the sand rush past him as it was blasted away, leaving only a bright ball of flame burning in the air.

“It worked!” Axel shouted out in triumph. “C’mon Taraka, let’s finish this fight!”

“Right,” the monk said, emerging from cover. “Sirius, Yawn!” he called to his Pokemon.

As the Garchomp raised its claws to strike Axel’s Alakazam, Sirius flew past and put it into a hypnotic trance. The massive dragon brought its claws down on Ryner, but it was starting to become sluggish, allowing the Alakazam enough time to dodge out of the way. The ground shook as the Garchomp’s arms slammed down upon it.

The Garchomp, snapping back to attention, then lunged for the Alakazam, attempting to snap at him with its mighty jaws. Luckily, the ice encasing its leg slowed it down, allowing Ryner to slip away again. “Alright, Ryner, blast it with Icy Wind!” Axel commanded his Pokemon. The Alakazam unleashed a blast of freezing air, but it only seemed to anger the giant Garchomp. The sand dragon let out another roar and it lunged forward again. The ice trapping its leg shattered as it slashed through the Alakazam with its sharp claws, bringing him down.

“Shit,” Axel cursed as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. “Alright, your turn, Taiga!” he called out, throwing out his Sneasel.

Hearing steps beside him, Axel turned to see Taraka walking up next to him. The mercenary saw the monk forming a red ball of psionic energy in his hands just as he had done when fighting the assassin on Fraxion. Taraka then sent the ball flying at the Garchomp. As it made contact with the beast’s hide, it seemed to burn through it.

“Now, Sirus!” the monk then called out. “Use Sweet Kiss!” As his Togekiss flew in close, the Garchomp snapped at her, sinking its teeth into her.

“Go on, Taiga!” Axel called to his own Pokemon. “Help her out! Use Faint Attack!” The mercenary’s newest Pokemon darted forward and struck the Garchomp with her claws, causing it to release Sirius. The giant Pokemon then let out an angry roar before diving deep into the desert sands.

“Don’t let your guard down just yet!” Taraka called out. “I can still sense it.”

Just then, the Garchomp erupted out from the ground beneath their Pokemon. Taraka’s Togekiss flew up and out of harm’s way, but Axel’s Sneasel was launched into the air. There was an audible thud as she fell back to the sandy ground. As the mercenary recalled his fainted Pokemon, he could see blood on the ground where she had landed.

“Alright, that does it!” Axel shouted as he grabbed his Charizard’s Pokeball off his belt. It was time to bring out the big guns. “No more messing around!” He threw the Pokeball out, and Ritsu emerged. She let out a fierce roar and stared the Garchomp down.

“I agree,” Taraka said. “Come back, Sirius. You’ve done enough.” The monk recalled his Togekiss, then sent out his Tangrowth. Much like the Garchomp, Roma was much larger than the average of her species, almost rivaling it in size. “Use Growth!” Taraka commanded the Pokemon. Taking advantage of solar grenade Axel had thrown, the Tangrowth took in the energy to boost her power.

Looking first to the Charizard, then the Tangrowth, the Garchomp selected its next target. Determining the giant ball of vines was a greater threat, the dragon rushed at Roma, claws at the ready. It swung its arms down on either side of the Tangrowth, but she managed to squish her vines close together, slipping between them as the claws instead embedded into the ground. The Garchomp roared angrily, then ripped its claws out of the sand, slashing up through Roma, slicing several vines loose.

“Get in there, Ritsu!” Axel then commanded his own Pokemon. The mercenary’s Charizard flew over to the Garchomp, spewing out sunlight-fueled flames from her mouth. Unfazed, the giant dragon Pokemon swiped through the fire with its tale, extinguishing it.

While she didn’t land her attack, Ritsu did succeed in distracting the Garchomp just long enough for Roma to move back and get in an attack of her own. “Use Mega Drain to recharge!” Taraka commanded. As the Tangrowth began draining energy from the Garchomp, it turned and took a bite out of her, chewing through several more vines. Roma, however, still looked to be in fighting shape. She pulled away, letting the vines fall away. The Garchomp took a swipe at her with one of its claws, and then the other, but she managed to avoid both of them.

“Alright, your turn, Ritsu!” Axel shouted. “Light it up with Flame Burst!” Coming in for another pass, the Charizard let loose another sunlight-charged jet of flames, this time finding her mark and searing the beast’s rough hide.

With a vicious growl, the Garchomp whipped its tail around, knocking Ritsu out of the sky. Sand flew up into the air as the Charizard impact the ground and slid across it, stopping right at Axel’s feet. Despite the power of the blow, Ritsu was kept mostly safe thanks to Taraka’s psionic barrier.

As the Garchomp began stomping over to strike the Charizard again while she was picking herself up, a large shadow suddenly passed overhead. Axel looked up to see the  _Maverick_ flying low with the cargo ramp down. The mercenary watched as Cyrus walked down the ramp, pistol drawn. The ship’s captain fired off several shots at the Garchomp, getting its attention. Reaching the end of the ramp, Cyrus tossed out his Talonflame, then jumped down to the ground.

“What took you so long?!” Axel called out to the captain.

“Happy to see you too, Axel,” Cyrus said without taking his eyes off the Garchomp. “Peregrine, use Peck!” he then called out to his Pokemon. The Talonflame dove down at the giant dragon, striking it with its beak.

Only seeming to get more angry, the Garchomp swung its tail in a wide arc in an attempt to hit both Peregrine and Ritsu. Both Pokemon managed to evade the hit, but the Garchomp swiped its arm along the same path for a second strike that hit Ritsu directly, shattering through Taraka’s protective barrier.

“Ritsu, don’t let up now!” Axel shouted words of encouragement to his Charizard. “Use Flamethrower!” Ritsu roared defiantly at the Garchomp as she absorbed the last of the solar energy from Axel’s grenade. She then let loose a massive stream of flames that completely enveloped the giant sand dragon, searing its rough hide once more.

Despite the burns all over its body, the Garchomp didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Roaring back at the Charizard, it raised its tail to strike again. Swinging in a wide arc once again, it swiped through Peregrine and Ritsu a second time, this time hitting both Pokemon. The Talonflame managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, but the Charizard took it dead on. Ritsu struggled to get up again before falling unconscious.

“Well done, Ritsu,” Axel said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. “Now let’s see if we can catch this damn Pokemon.” The mercenary pulled out an ultra ball and chucked it as hard as he could at the Garchomp. Unfortunately, the giant Pokemon took a long stride toward Cyrus’s Talonflame to strike him again, and the ball flew past it and landed in the sand. “Damn it!” Axel shouted in frustration.

“We need to slow it down,” Taraka told the mercenary. He then let loose another blast of psionic energy at the Garchomp, causing it to stumble for a moment as it became a bit drowsy. It quickly regained its footing, however, then lashed out at Peregrine, taking the Talonflame down.

“Damn, this thing is strong!” Cyrus said as he recalled his Pokemon. The captain then fired off several shots with his pistol.

The Garchomp ignored the incoming fire, instead focusing on Taraka’s Tangrowth as she attempted to get in another Mega Drain attack. It swiped through Roma with its sharp claws, slashing several more vines, then got in close, gnashing at her with its teeth. “Hang in there, Roma!” the monk called out to his Pokemon. “Keep draining it!”

As his Pokemon drained more energy from her assailant, Taraka readied a Pokeball and attempted to capture it. The Garchomp immediately burst from the ball, only to be pulled into one thrown by Axel. Again, the giant dragon broke free and, with another angry roar, it swiped at Roma again, undoing what progress the Tangrowth had made toward healing herself.

As the Garchomp prepared to strike again, Cyrus fired off several more shots, landing one directly on one of the severe burns caused by Ritsu. In response, the giant Dragon Pokemon let out an ear-splitting wail, part pain, part anger. It then stomped down hard on the ground, causing it to quake. A shockwave ran along the ground, radiating out from the Garchomp, kicking up sand as it went. Axel felt himself launched off his feet, then felt pain shoot through his body as he slammed into a rock.

Axel groaned in pain as he attempted to get back up. He sat himself up just long enough to see the Garchomp dive back into the ground before he dropped. He couldn’t hold himself up anymore; it just hurt to much.

“It’s moving off,” the mercenary heard Taraka say.

“I guess he decided we’re more trouble than we’re worth,” Cyrus replied.

Axel then saw the captain walk over to him. “You alright there, Axel?” he asked the mercenary.

“I’ll live,” Axel grunted. “I just need to lay here for a few minutes.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Cyrus said. “I think that’s enough adventuring for one day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another session is done. Roland’s player couldn’t make it again, and I didn’t know yet that the previous session had ended up being the last one he’d attend, so it was a filler day. Axel's and Taraka's players wanted to look for Pokemon, so I just rolled a random planet and said it was in the same system they were already in. It ended up being a desert/ocean world.
> 
> Because of plot developments in the next session, however, I added more reason for them to check out the planet other than catching more Pokemon for the writing. I also added a few extra scenes for better story flow. The first was a simple scene to transition from the previous chapter and just give some more character interaction. The second was another simple one just to establish reasons for going to the planet. The third one on the planet was one I added once I realized I needed a good narrative explanation for Axel now being able to use the move Sunny Day. The class is usually flavored is being magical/supernatural in nature, but for this setting it was flavored as a special suit Axel wears, so explaining that move was a bit harder. I decided Erik made him a grenade of some sort, but I still needed to justify how he came up with something that worked. That’s when I thought of Roland introducing shards into the plot and the solution hit me. Roland crafted some Fire Gems, which power the grenades! It worked out perfectly, and I was able to insert a scene between Axel's and Taraka's players looking for Pokemon on the beach and when they did it further inland since they went back to the ship to heal anyway.
> 
> Since this session was just Axel and Taraka doing stuff, I decided to give the other characters stuff to do. Roland stayed on the ship, while Ace and the captain went to explore elsewhere on the planet. The two players rolled awful numbers looking around the beach, so they found a single Pokemon, but when they went inland, Taraka's player rolled a 100, which is the best roll in looking for Pokemon. Enter giant oversized pseudo-legendary! Since it was a desert/ocean world, what better Pokemon to fight than a sand shark?
> 
> The fight was fun, but they were afraid of dying the whole time, and needed to call in some backup. They did try to catch it, but its capture rate was 0 at the end, so it was hard to catch. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t told them the capture rate after the encounter because it made them both salty and they kept saying it was impossible to catch, even after I told them repeatedly that putting more statuses on it would have raised the capture rate, and even at 0 it was catchable if they used literally anything better than a basic Pokeball. In the end, it succumbed to its burn damage after using Earthquake, but for the writing I flavored it as deciding to leave and find easier prey instead of just being left unconscious by the party. Anyway, that’s all. It was a simple session with a straightforward, if difficult combat encounter. Hope you enjoyed.


	24. The Stranded Smuggler

“Captain, come take a look at this.”

“What now?” Cyrus asked, looking over at Taraka. The two had just finished seeing Axel to the medbay when Anya’s voice had sounded over the _Maverick_ ’s comms.

“I guess we had better find out,” the monk replied. Despite being a bit beat up after being attacked by that giant Garchomp, Taraka followed Cyrus to the front of the ship. His curiosity was outweighing his desire to see to his injuries at the moment. The pain medication he had taken would suffice for the time being.

“I managed to get that signal cleaned up, at least somewhat,” Anya announced when she saw the two arrive at the comms system. “It’s still garbled, but I’m pretty sure that it’s a distress signal. The source is only a few kilometers from here.”

“A bit suspicious that it was so hard to detect, don’t you think?” Cyrus asked. “Especially all the way out here.”

“There could be a number of reasons for that,” Taraka said. “I think we should go help whoever it is. We’re good people, aren’t we?”

“I’m with Taraka,” Anya agreed. “We can always leave if there’s trouble.”

“Fair enough,” Cyrus said, nodding at the pilot. “Fly us over the origin point so we can scope it out first.”

“You got it, boss,” Anya said.

Taraka followed the two to the cockpit and sat himself down in one of the back seats. He looked on from behind as Anya fiddled with the controls, preparing the ship for takeoff. Moments later, the  _Maverick_  lifted off the ground and began flying toward the source of the distress signal.

“Look there,” Cyrus said, pointing at the viewport as the ship got close to its destination.

Peering out the viewport where the captain was pointing, Taraka could see part of a crashed ship wedged between two rocky outcroppings just ahead and off to the starboard side. “I wonder who could have done that,” the monk said. “Do you think it was that Garchomp?”

“I doubt it,” Anya said. “That looks like some serious blast damage. I’m pretty sure this ship was shot down.”

“By who?” Taraka asked, not expecting an answer. None came.

As Anya flew the ship in closer, Taraka spotted what looked like makeshift fortifications surrounding a campsite near the crashed ship. Judging from their recent encounter, Taraka assumed the fortifications were to keep out wild Pokemon.

“Someone must still be alive down there,” Cyrus said as the  _Maverick_  passed over the downed vessel. “Anya, bring us down so we can check it out.” The pilot nodded, then brought the ship back around. A few moments later, the  _Maverick_  touched down a short distance from the wreckage.

“You up to checking this place out?” Cyrus asked Taraka as he stood up.

Taraka nodded. “I’m alright,” he said. “Axel took the brunt of the Garchomp’s fury.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Cyrus said, nodding to the door.

Taraka followed the captain to the cargo bay and the two of them descended the cargo ramp. As they crossed the desert sands, Taraka spotted a man step out from a makeshift shelter. He was short and had a stocky build. He pulled out a rifle as Taraka and Cyrus approached and aimed it at them.

“Are you guys real or mirages like the last three?!” the man called out to them.

“Hello, friend,” Taraka said, carefully taking a step forward. “We are very real. What brings you out here to this remotest of remote places?”

“I crashed here and I’ve been trying to survive for two months,” the man said without lowering his rifle. “Are you friendly or am I gonna have to shoot you?”

Taraka took another step forward and raised his hands to show that he was unarmed. “There will be no need for that,” the monk said calmly.

“So you’re friendly?”

“Yes.”

The man lowered his rifle and slung it back over his shoulder. “Then I can be friendly too.”

Taraka smiled. “That’s good. I do not need any more trouble today.” The monk motioned at the injuries the Garchomp had given him.

“Need any help, stranger?” Cyrus asked. “We picked up your distress signal. Or at least I assume it’s yours.”

The man nodded. “I could certainly use some help if you have room on your ship,” he said.

“We’ve got room if you don’t mind sharing a cabin,” the captain replied.

The man let out a slight chuckle. “It’d be better than here.”

“Anywhere would be better than here,” Cyrus said, joining in the laughter. “There’s nothing here but sand and dragons.”

“Tell me about it,” the man said. “What do you think all this is for?” he asked, motioning to the fortifications surrounding his camp. “Certainly not to frighten off tourists.”

“Indeed,” Taraka said. “We had an encounter with a humongous Garchomp on the way here.”

“So you’ve seen the big one, then,” the man said. “We’re well acquainted.”

“So, what’s your name, stranger?” Cyrus asked.

“Gaster the name,” the man answered. “Gaster Jameson. My previous profession may have been a little outside the law, but I’m just looking to get back on my feet. I kind of lost everything after crashing here. Any help is appreciated, and I’ll be able to help you out too.”

“Well don’t worry; we’ve been outside the law too,” Taraka said. “Recently, might I add. We’re good with the law now, though. I’m Taraka Bhaluka, and this is the captain.”

“Cyrus Drake,” the captain said, offering his hand.

Gaster walked up and gave Cyrus’s hand a firm shake. “Well met Mr. Drake and Mr. Bhaluka.”

“Likewise, Mr. Jameson,” the captain said, nodding. “Looks like we’re your ticket back to civilization.”

“Much appreciated,” Gaster said. “Though I suppose I don’t really have much of a choice.”

Cyrus laughed. “Well it’s either come with us or stay here on this rock.”

A smirk appeared on Gaster’s face. “I think I’ll take my chances with you.”

* * *

“Welcome aboard the  _UAS Maverick_ ,” Cyrus Drake said as he and Taraka Bhaluka led Gaster aboard their ship.

“Nice ship you got here,” Gaster said as he took a look around the cargo hold. His rescuers’ ship looked to be in quite good condition, not that he particularly cared what it looked like; he was just glad to be escaping the desert heat of Venbaxxen.

“She’s my pride and joy,” Cyrus said as he led the way out of the cargo hold into the the ship’s main corridor. “We take good care of her, and she takes good care of us. She’s become a bit of a full house recently, though.”

“Must be if you’ve filled up all this space already,” Gaster said as he looked around. There was plenty of room on this ship judging from how many doors there were in the corridor. “Where’s the rest of your crew anyway?”

“Oh, they’re around,” Taraka said. “You already know me and the captain, but we also have our super cool pilot Anya,” the monk continued. Gaster noticed that he seemed a bit loopy. “And then there’s Erik, our maintenance guy and Ace, who is totally a normal person. He just kind of just hangs out in Erik’s workshop. And then we’ve got cool Axel. He’s usually down here burning stuff. He likes to burn stuff. You’re going to hear about him burning a lot of things later. Don’t worry about it, it’s normal. He also likes cute Pokemon. Lastly, our newest recruit is Roland. He is an archaeologist of sorts. He likes rare stuff and shards. He runs away sometimes too. I’m going to the med bay now.” And with that, the monk walked off and entered the room directly to the right of the cargo hold, which Gaster assumed was the medbay.

“What’s the deal with him?” Gaster asked, turning to Cyrus.

The captain shrugged. “Pain meds, I’d wager,” he said. “He and my hired muscle, Axel, had a run in with that big Garchomp.”

“I see,” Gaster replied. “And this Axel character, he’s fond of fire?”

Cyrus chuckled. “Fire Pokemon, particularly,” he said. “But yeah, his weapon of choice is a flamethrower too. He’s alright though, if a bit of an idiot at times. Just don’t get on his bad side.”

“Good to know,” Gaster said.

“Anyway, there will be time for proper introductions later,” the captain continued. “Let me show you to your room.”

“Right,” Gaster said, following Cyrus further down the corridor to the room next to the medbay.

Cyrus opened the door, revealing a small two-bunk cabin. “How’s it going, Roland?” the captain asked as he stepped into the room. Gaster followed and laid eyes upon a rather well-dressed man who looked quite out of place in a place like this.

“I am doing quite well, sir. Thank you,” the man replied, a posh Genevan accent quite apparent. “And, uh, who is this fellow here?” he asked, turning his attention to Gaster.

“Your new roommate,” Cyrus replied. “Roland, meet Gaster Jameson. Gaster, meet Roland Mercette.”

Gaster nodded at the man. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mercette,” he said, offering his hand.

“It is good to meet you, sir,” Roland replied, shaking Gaster’s hand. “My services as a craftsman are at your disposal … uh, for a fee, that is.”

“That would require having credits to spend.”

“Oh, I see,” Roland said.

“Don’t worry about that,” Cyrus said. “We’re headed back to Khalimuck and you’ll certainly be able to find employment there or, if you’re interested, I could always use another pair of hands around here. I can’t promise the best pay, but we get by well enough.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stick around,” Gaster said. “You all seem like good people and I know a good opportunity when I see one. After what I’ve been through, I’m not going to risk missing one for the chance of  _maybe_  finding something better.”

“Fair enough,” the captain said, laughing. “So, how’d you end up here anyway?” he then asked.

“Well, I’m a smuggler by trade,” Gaster said. “Or, at least, I  _was_  a smuggler. I was hired to smuggle something, but I got double-crossed and my ship was shot down. Needless to say, I’m not really keen on returning to that life.”

“I don’t blame you,” Cyrus said. “Anyway, I’ll let you get yourself settled. The bathroom’s on the right once you go through the door at the end of the corridor if you want to get cleaned up.”

Gaster nodded. “Thanks,” the former smuggler said. “I appreciate the hospitality.”

“Don’t mention it,” the captain said before walking out of the room.

* * *

The sun shone brightly as Taraka and Gaster stepped out of the Khalimuck spaceport. It was quite pleasant compared to the harsh sunlight of Venbaxxen. Taraka looked over at Gaster to see a slight smile on his face.

“It’s nice to finally be on a planet that isn’t sandy and hot as hell,” the former smuggler said.

“I can imagine,” Taraka replied. “This place must be wonderful after all the time you were in that desert.”

“Oh, definitely,” Gaster said. “Sure, it’s not the nicest planet in the Galaxy, but Outer Rim settlements like this one are like home to me.”

“Well, welcome home, then,” Taraka heard Cyrus’s voice say. The monk turned to see the captain walking up behind them. “Why don’t you two check out the job board and find our next job while I pick up supplies?” Cyrus then suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Gaster said in agreement. “The sooner I get back on my feet the better.”

“Alright, I’ll see you guys back on the ship later,” Cyrus said before walking off.

“So, where’s this job board?” Gaster asked, turning to Taraka.

“By the market,” Taraka informed the former smuggler. “Follow me.”

The two headed into town and made their way through the crowded Khalimuck market. Having been to the planet several times in recent days, Taraka knew how to find his way around quite easily. It didn’t take the monk long to lead Gaster to the job board.

“Let us see what we can find,” Taraka said as he reached out to interact with the board’s holoscreen. “Perhaps there will be a task we can easily complete on this planet that pays well.”

“That would be nice,” Gaster said. “It’d be great to make some credits before we leave for a long-term job.”

Taraka nodded. “I will look.”

The monk spent the next several minutes searching through the posted jobs. There were many jobs to choose from, ranging from transporting goods to exploring uncharted worlds for salvage, but the one thing most of them seemed to have in common was traveling offworld. As he was about to resign himself to the fact that there were no jobs that could be easily completed on Khalimuck itself, one caught his eye.

“How about this one?” the monk said. “Some roughians seem to be causing trouble in town and the local authorities have posted a reward for driving them off.”

“That sounds doable,” Gaster said. “What are the details?”

“There’s not much here,” Taraka answered. “Just a description of the thugs and their ship.”

“Good enough for me,” Gaster said. “Let’s do it.”

Taraka nodded. “Very well. Let us inform the captain, but first, there are a few things I want to pick up at the market while we are here.”

* * *

“We just need to drive some thugs out, huh?” Cyrus asked as he looked over the details of the bounty Taraka and Gaster had shown him. “You good in a fight, Gaster? Axel’s still recovering from his injuries, Ace is helping Erik with his latest project, and Roland’s definitely not suited for this type of work.”

“I can certainly handle myself,” the former smuggler replied. “My Pokemon are tough and I like to think I’m a pretty good shot.”

“Good to hear,” the  _Maverick_ ’s captain said. “In that case, I think the three of us can handle this no problem.”

“Then let us clean up the town,” Taraka said.

“After you,” Cyrus said, motioning toward the door.

Gaster led the way as the trio departed the  _Maverick_  to seek out the ship belonging to the thugs. The search wasn’t particularly hard, as the vessel was conveniently parked beside the  _Maverick_. Scanning the area, Gaster spotted three individuals hanging around by the ship, two male and one female. The bounty stated there were three thugs, and these people all matched the provided descriptions.

“Looks like they’re all here,” Gaster said to his new crewmates.

“Then let us deal with them now,” Taraka said. With his Togekiss by his side, the monk approached the thugs. About halfway between their ship and the  _Maverick_ , Taraka stopped and called out to them. “Hey, you!” he shouted, getting their attention. “We hear you’re causing trouble for the town. We’re going to have to ask you to cut that out.”

All three of the thugs laughed. “Or what?” one of the two men, who had a thick brown beard, sneered at the monk. “Are you gonna make us or somethin’? What’s a monk like you gonna do to us?”

“Alright you guys, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Gaster said, walking up beside Taraka. He pulled out his Pokedex and held it up so that it was clearly visible. “If you don’t listen to us and kindly get off this planet, I push a few buttons and some very powerful contacts of mine will come destroy you, your ship, and your entire lives.” The smuggler was bluffing, of course, but he was hoping he could scare these small time scumbags off without resorting to violence. It would make things easier.

Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to believe him. “Oh really?” the woman in the group asked in an incredulous yet taunting tone.

 _Oh well, it was worth a shot_ , Gaster thought.  _Must be out of practice._

“Too afraid to fight us yourself small man?” the woman continued before letting out an almost maniacal-sounding cackle.

Gaster’s eyes narrowed and his hand began to drift toward his Pokeballs.

“We can provide a fight if you’re looking for one,” Taraka said before blasting the bearded man with psionic energy, sending him into a daze. “Sirius, Fairy Wind!” the monk then commanded his Pokemon as the man staggered backwards. His Togekiss flew up to the stunned man, blasting him with a huge gust of wind that sent him stumbling backwards.

“What the fuck is happening?!” the bearded man called out in confusion as he stumbled around, fighting to maintain his footing.

“Your worst nightmare,” Gaster said threateningly before releasing his Shuppet. “Clara, use Will-O-Wisp on that one,” he ordered his ghostly Pokemon. He pointed out the other man in the group of thugs just as they all began to send out their own Pokemon. As he pulled out his rifle and lined up a shot, his Shuppet let loose a ghostly wisp of flame at her target, setting the thug afire.

Just then, the thug’s newly released Zangoose leapt to its trainer’s defense. Razor-sharp claws, bared, it sliced through Gaster’s Shuppet, doing a real number on her.  _Damn, it must have been a dark type move_ , Gaster thought.  _Let’s get rid of that, shall we?_  “Clara, use Spite!”

As the Zangoose stumbled back from the unexpected retaliation, Gaster quickly lined up a shot on it. Unfortunately, as he pulled the trigger, the Pokemon dodged out of the way, causing the laser bolt to strike the ground instead. As he tracked the Zangoose in his sights, attempting to line up another shot, Gaster made note of the other thugs’ Pokemon: a Skarmory and a Nidoqueen.

The combatants in this brawl were all moving too fast for Gaster to line up a decent shot. He simply stood back and observed it all down the sights of his rifle. He watched the dazed thug regain his senses and order his Skarmory to unleash a devastating attack on Taraka’s Toekiss, only to be taken down by a well-placed shot from the captain, who had snuck up on his flank.

Gaster then saw the monk bravely put himself between the Skarmory and his own Pokemon, then send a ghostly flame its way in much the same way his Shuppet had done. Taraka then had his Togekiss back away from the Skarmory and the Nidoqueen, both of which posed a big threat to her, and then attack the Zangoose.

“Take that damn thing out!” Gaster heard the Zangoose’s trainer shout. “Zangoose, use Rock Tomb!” Heeding its trainer’s command, the Pokemon ripped up a chunk of the ground, then lobbed it at Taraka’s Togekiss. The rocky mass struck dead on, leaving the monk’s Pokemon with a nasty gash, but she miraculously stayed up, ready to keep fighting on. Taraka, it seemed, however, was not going to take any chances, and recalled his Pokemon.

Turning back to his own Pokemon, Gaster ordered her to attack. “Clara use Night Shade on that Nidoqueen!” he shouted to his shuppet. Clara unleashed her ghostly attack, but the Nidoqueen didn’t seem particularly bothered.

“Take it out!” the Nidoqueen’s trainer ordered. “Poison Jab!”

“Disable that one too!” Gaster shouted before the blow was struck. With the last of her strength, the former smuggler’s Shuppet left the Nidoqueen with a parting gift before she fainted.

Meanwhile, the two thugs advanced forward, firing off their weapons. They landed a couple of shots on Taraka and Cyrus, but they were only grazing blows. Cyrus fired back with far greater accuracy, landing a direct hit to the female roughian’s shoulder as Taraka threw up a psionic barrier to protect them from the gunfire.

While his crewmates had the two rogues occupied, Gaster seized the opportunity to recall his downed Shuppet and send out his Cinccino. “Alright, Lulabelle, let’s even the odds,” the former smuggler said. “Use Sing!” His Pokemon ran forward, positioning herself between the Nidoqueen and the Zangoose, then let out an ear splitting cry that left the two enemy Pokemon in a daze.

That just left the Skarmory, whose trainer was down and couldn’t issue orders. Gaster trained his rifle on it to see it spray out spikes everywhere, then rush Taraka, slashing him with one of its sharp metallic wings. The former smuggler quickly fired off some suppressing fire, buying Taraka time to back away and strengthen the protective barrier around them all. However it also drew the attention of the thugs.

“Focus on that one!” the woman, who had seemed to take command of the situation after the apparent leader was knocked out, shouted at the Skarmory as she pointed at Gaster. Even though it wasn’t her Pokemon, the Skarmory obeyed her command and shifted its focus to Gaster. The former smuggler quickly dove out of the way as the metallic bird flew at him, but its razor-sharp wing feathers still grazed his leg.

Ignoring the pain, Gaster rolled over and got up into a kneeling position as the Skarmory flew around for another pass. “Lulabelle, use Tail Slap on that Zangoose!” he ordered his Pokemon after quickly assessing the situation. His Cinccino ran up to the dazed Zangoose, and smacked it hard across the face twice with her tail. The Zangoose quickly snapped to attention only to be brought down by a well-placed shot from Gaster’s rifle.

With one more threat neutralized, Gaster scanned the area with his rifle. The female thug and the captain were trading shots as they ducked in and out of cover behind crates scattering the spaceport. Cyrus managed to land another hit on her, but she got two on him. The captain got down behind a crate so as not to get himself killed.

Meanwhile, the other thug was focused on Gaster’s Cinccino. He was firing off shot after shot, but the agile little Pokemon evaded most of them, only taking a couple of hits. “Lulabelle, hide behind that Nidoqueen,” Gaster instructed his Pokemon. She would be safe there as long as the Nidoqueen didn’t snap out of its daze. “Now, use Baby-Doll Eyes on that damn Skarmory,” he commanded. The smuggler then turned and fired on the metallic bird himself as it flew in for another attack.

The Skarmory was then stopped short when Taraka sent out a Beartic right in front of it. “Arctos, Icy Wind!” the monk commanded his Pokemon. The large bear let out a mighty roar as he unleashed a gust of freezing air, causing the Skarmory’s metallic feathers to frost over. The metal bird tried its best to take evasive action, and sprayed out more spikes as it flew off.

This, however, got the female thug’s attention. She fired a few shots off at Taraka, but luckily his psionic barrier kept him safe. While the woman wasn’t looking, Cyrus peeked over the crate he was hiding behind and fired off a shot. It hit the woman right in the back, knocking her to the ground. She wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.

With the threat neutralized, Taraka was able to send a wispy psionic flame at the Nidoqueen, which still lay on the ground in a daze. Things seemed to be under control on that end of the battlefield, so Gaster shifted his focus to the remaining thug. He commanded his Cinccino to attack him, but then the Nidoqueen stomped in out of nowhere. Things weren’t under control, after all. The Nidoqueen took a swing at Lulabelle, but, thankfully, Taraka’s psionic barrier mitigated the damage.

“Lulabelle, use Tackle, then get out of there!” Gaster shouted to his Pokemon. The Cinccino attempted a retaliatory strike against the Nidoqueen, but went flying past instead. She then quickly scurried away before the Nidoqueen could hit her again. A salvo of gunfire pursued her as she ran, striking the ground all around her, but she managed to avoid getting hit. The remaining thug shooting at her was then swiftly dispatched by Cyrus with a well-placed shot. Gaster was impressed by how accurate the captain still was despite having been hit a few times.

“Arctos, Brine!” Taraka’s voice suddenly rang out. Gaster turned to see a torrent of water raining down on the Skarmory, forcing it down to the ground. With a loud metallic clang, the Skarmory collapsed in a heap. Now only the Nidoqueen remained.

Gaster quickly aimed his rifle at the final hostile Pokemon and fired off a few shots as Taraka recalled his Beartic and sent out a Glaceon. “Hod, Icy Wind!” the former smuggler heard the monk command the newly sent out Pokemon. As he landed a couple hits on the Nidoqueen, Gaster saw the Glaceon run up to it and blast it with bone-chilling air.

The Nidoqueen let out an angry, pained roar, then charged right for Taraka’s Pokemon. The Glaceon was sent flying back into the side of the  _Maverick_  as the Nidoqueen barrelled into him. “Lulabelle, quick, finish it with Swift!” Gaster shouted. His Cinccino heeded his command and unleashed a storm of stars, brining the Nidoqueen down before it could do any further harm.

With the battle won, Gaster breathed a sigh of relief. Things had gotten a little tense there for a moment. Shouldering his rifle, Gaster ran over to Cyrus. “You alright?” he asked as he offered the captain a hand.

“Yeah,” Cyrus said as Gaster pulled him to his feet. “It takes more than a few gunshots to bring me down,” he said, slamming his fist against his body armor.

Gaster gave the captain a nod, then turned to the unconscious thugs. “What do you wanna do with them?” he asked.

“Let’s turn ‘em in and claim that bounty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there’s another chapter done. Since Roland’s player ended up missing so many sessions, I brought in another player with the intent of bringing the party up to four members. Roland’s player ended up dropping out of the campaign a couple weeks later after missing more sessions, including this one, so Gaster’s player ended up being a replacement player instead. It was an amicable parting and a smooth transition to a new player, so it all worked out. Axel's player had to miss this session, unfortunately, so it was just Taraka's player and our new player.
> 
> I was actually really excited when unknown pitched his character concept of a stranded smuggler with the Survivalist class because the party had ended the previous session on an uninhabited desert planet. It just worked out so perfectly for him to be stranded on the planet they were already on. Narratively, it was a bit odd for them to just suddenly pick up his distress signal, so in the writing I provided some extra reasoning for why they went to the planet, as you saw last chapter, to make the events of this chapter not just come out of nowhere.
> 
> Even though there were only two players, there was some great RP this session between Taraka's and Gaster's players. I did add a few scenes with interactions with Cyrus and Roland to make it all flow better and I’m happy with how that all turned out. Since I didn’t yet know Roland’s player was going to drop out, he stayed around as a character on the ship for a while.
> 
> As we didn’t have Axel, we decided not to advance the plot and just do stuff to get Gaster some money since unknown spent all his starting money. We ended up with a fun little combat encounter against some generic thugs. And that’s about it, really. Hopefully you enjoy the newest member of the crew.


	25. Delving for Dark Types

“Good work today, boys,” Captain Cyrus Drake said as he stepped aboard the  _UAS Maverick_  with Taraka and Gaster. “The reward for that bounty should keep us fueled up for the next week or so.”

“Let us hope we find another job before then,” Taraka said.

Cyrus let out a chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” the captain said. “I’m sure something will turn up. It always does.”

As the trio walked into the living quarters, Cyrus spotted Axel and Erik sitting at the table, chatting. “Hey, Captain,” Axel greeted him as he approached.

“You’re awake,” Cyrus said. “How’re ya feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a ton of bricks,” the mercenary replied, grinning. “But I’ll live.” He then turned to look at Gaster. “Who’s your friend?” he asked.

“Your new crewmate,” Cyrus said. “We picked him up on Venbaxxen.”

“Gaster Jameson,” the former smuggler introduced himself, stepping forward and holding out his hand.

Axel reached out and gave his hand a firm shake. “Axel Zuikaku,” he said. “Tell me you’re good in a fight. We need someone else who’s good at that around here.”

Gaster nodded and cracked a sly smirk. “I can do that and more.”

“Good,” Axel replied. “It’s nice to have someone like you in our crew because I’m used to having to carry everyone.”

“You won’t have to worry about that while I’m here,” Gaster said. “As long as you keep things away from me, I’ll keep things away from you.”

“Well it sounds like you two are going to get along nicely,” Cyrus said, chuckling.

“Anyway, I was thinking we could challenge another gym and make some money,” Axel said. “Erik and I were just talking about that before you walked in.”

“A gym, huh?” Cyrus said, a smirk appearing on his face. “I was beginning to think Darlene scared you off from challenging another.”

“Well, we’re much stronger now,” the mercenary replied. “We’ll be more than a match for any gym leader now.”

Cyrus laughed. “I wouldn’t be so sure. They can be pretty tough.”

“Way to have confidence in your crew, boss,” Axel replied.

“Hey, I never said you couldn’t win,” the captain said. “I’m just saying that it won’t be easy.”

“It will be if we go in prepared,” Axel said. “What do you know about the Sector 33 gym leader?”

“Not much really,” Cyrus told the mercenary. “Only that he uses ghost Pokemon and hasn’t had the job that long.”

“Then we just need to catch some dark types first and we’ll be fine,” Axel said.

“Well, we’re not wasting fuel hopping around from system to system,” Cyrus stated. “If you want to catch more dark type Pokemon, you’ll have to look in this system or the one the gym is in.”

“That’s fine by me.”

* * *

 

The  _Maverick_ ’s crew reconvened at the front of the ship when it arrived in the Fura system, the location of the Sector 33 gym. Taraka looked over the captain’s shoulder as he brought up the details of the system on the navchart.

“These are your choices,” Cyrus said to his crew. “We’re not going to waste fuel flying around aimlessly, so pick one of these planets to visit before the gym.”

Aside from a few mining operations on the rocky moons of the gas giant on the edge of the system and the station containing the gym, there was no Human activity in the Fura system. The gas giant didn’t support any Pokemon life, so the crew quickly ruled out visiting it. That just left the three other planets in the system. One was a small planet covered in deserts and a few dry forests, the second was an ocean world with many volcanic islands, and the last was a mountainous planet with sub-zero temperatures.

“I say we go to the volcanic planet,” Axel said.

Taraka chuckled. “You just want to catch more fire Pokemon,” he said.

“Actually, he might be onto something,” Gaster said, bringing the planet back up on the navchart. “Look at this. The volcanic ash clouds in some areas make it very dark. Perfect for dark type Pokemon.”

Taraka nodded. Gaster had a point. Of the three planets that could sustain life in the system, this one was the most suitable habitat for dark type Pokemon. “Then this is the world we shall visit.”

A short while later, the  _Maverick_  touched down on the planet’s surface. The crew had elected to land on an island with a volcano that was still active and spewing volcanic ash into the air. There were far more pleasant locales on the world, but they thought they’d have the best chance of finding dark type Pokemon there. Soon, Axel, Gaster, and Taraka set out on their Pokemon search. Everyone else on the ship opted not to join them as none of them were particularly interested in challenging the gym.

As he stepped off the cargo ramp onto the blackened volcanic rock of the island, Taraka took a look around. Even though the light was dim due to the dark cloud of ash overhead, the monk could still see for a good distance. To his left was the sea, it’s waves crashing upon the shore of volcanic rock. Straight ahead, he could see a stream of lava flowing down the sloping land into the water where it created massive columns of steam.

Taraka then turned back to his crewmates. “So, where shall we begin our search?” he asked them.

“I think I’m going to try my luck near the volcano,” Axel said.

“All the way up there?” Gaster asked, pointing to the volcano way off in the distance.

“Yeah,” Axel said. “Ritsu will fly me up there.” The mercenary then released his Charizard and began to mount up. “You’re welcome to join me.”

“I don’t have any Pokemon that can fly,” Gaster said. “I think I’ll search around here.”

“I will stay as well,” Taraka said.

“Alright, suit yourselves,” Axel replied. “C’mon, Ritsu. Let’s get moving.” With that, the mercenary gave his Charizard a nudge and she took to the skies.

After watching Axel and Ritsu fly off into the distance, Taraka turned back to Gaster. “Shall we get on our way?”

* * *

As Taraka walked along the coastline with Gaster, he kept his senses on alert for any sign of Pokemon activity. It had been some time since the two had parted ways with Axel, and so far all the monk had been able to perceive was the sound of the waves crashing upon the volcanic rocks. Despite this, Taraka had a good feeling about this island.

As they ascended a small ridge, Taraka began to hear a low growling sound. He and Gaster quickly ran up the rest of the way to the top, where they were able to see a Houndoom staring down a Crawdaunt. Its teeth bared, the Houndoom was growling at the Crawdaunt, which snapped its claws menacingly back at it.

“Looks like a territory dispute,” Gaster observed.

“Or an opportunity to catch some Pokemon,” Taraka said, flashing the former smuggler a grin.

Gaster nodded. “Sounds good to me. I’d like to catch that Houndoom, if you don’t mind.”

“Go for it,” Taraka said. “I’ll take the Crawdaunt.”

“Gotcha,” Gaster said, pulling out a Pokeball. “You go right. I’ll go left. We’ll come up behind them on either side.” He took a step forward, and sent out a Krokorok as he began descending the ridge.

“A sound plan,” Taraka agreed as he followed his crewmate and sent out his Tangrowth.

Once they reached the bottom of the ridge, the two trainers and their Pokemon split up to close in on either side of their targets. As he crept up on the Crawdaunt with his Tangrowth, Taraka watched Gaster’s Krokorok get the Houndoom’s attention. In response, the Houndoom turned and ran at the new threat, coating itself over in flames. Whatever move had been used seemed to have really angered it.

The Houndoom was then met with a volley of shots from Gaster’s laser rifle. The sound of the weapon firing spooked the Crawdaunt, causing it to burrow underground. Sensing the Pokemon tunneling below him, Taraka threw up a psionic barrier then issued a command to his own Pokemon. “Roma, use Growth.”

As his Tangrowth began storing up energy, Taraka allowed himself to glance over in Gaster’s direction. “Jimothy, use Sand Tomb!” the monk heard him command his Pokemon. The Krokorok unleashed a tornado of sand upon the Houndoom, which engulfed it and swept it in Taraka’s direction. Gaster followed after it, gazing down the sights of his rifle. He fired several shots off, but couldn’t line up a shot through the sandy vortex swirling around his target. As laser bolts flew past, the Houndoom began spraying out flames in all directions, singeing Gaster’s Pokemon.

Just then, while Taraka was distracted, the Crawdaunt shot up through the ground between the monk and his Tangrowth, spraying them with chunks of volcanic rock. Roma seemed fine, but Taraka felt stinging pains as he was scraped and cut by the jagged chunks. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle, however.

“Roma, hit that thing with Vine Whip,” Taraka commanded his Pokemon. With her mighty vine arms, the Tangrowth swatted at the Crawdaunt, forcefully slamming it into a nearby rock. Then, as the Pokemon struggled to pick itself back up, Taraka focused his power into a ball of psionic energy that he sent toward it, burning through its hard exoskeleton.

Getting back on its feet, the Crawdaunt charged at Roma, eager for payback. Acting quickly, Taraka stepped in front of his Pokemon and focused his barrier in front of him to absorb the impact as the Crawdaunt swiped at him with its claws. “Now, Roma! Stun Spore!” the monk then commanded his Pokemon. He stepped to the side as the Tangrowth let out a spray of powder at the Crawdaunt, causing it to seize up.

With the Crawdaunt stunned, Taraka allowed himself to see how Gaster was doing. The monk looked over to see the Houndoom sinking its teeth into his crewmate’s Pokemon. The Krokorok soon broke free, however, and backed away before unleashing another sand vortex to trap the Houndoom. Seeing an opportunity, Taraka let loose a burst of psionic energy that left the Houndoom dazed.

As the confused Houndoom struggled to break from from the swirling tornado of sand, Gaster was able to safely recall his Krokorok and send out his Cinccino. “Lulabelle, use Sing!” the former smuggler ordered his newly released Pokemon. Heeding her trainer’s command, the Cinccino let out a high-pitched screeching sound that caused both the Houndoom and the Crawdaunt to fall to the ground, completely stunned. Without missing a beat, Gaster pulled out a Pokeball and threw it at the dazed canine Pokemon. The ball pulled it inside then fell to the ground. It shook once, then twice … then fell still.

With one Pokemon out of the picture, Taraka turned back to the Crawdaunt. “Alright, Roma, hit it with Struggle,” the monk commanded his Pokemon, not wishing to do too much more damage to the Crawdaunt. His Tangrowth gave the crustacean a light slap with one of her vine arms snapping it back to alertness. The Crawdaunt rushed at Roma, trying to get in another hit, but it stumbled past her and collapsed into a heap, succumbing to its injuries.

“This is unfortunate,” Taraka said. “I was hoping to capture it.”

“At least we have dinner for later,” the monk heard Axel’s voice say. He turned to see the mercenary walking up to them.

“What are you doing down here?” Gaster asked.

“I didn’t find anything interesting up by the volcano,” Axel explained. “So I decided to see how you two were faring. Any luck?”

“Gaster captured a Houndoom, but I was not as fortunate, as you can see,” Taraka said, motioning at the unconscious Crawdaunt.

“A Houndoom, huh?” Axel asked. “I could make use of one of those.”

Gaster let out a slight chuckle. “Maybe you should have come with us,” he said.

“Maybe I should have,” Axel agreed. “But I’m here now, and you guys seem to have had some luck finding Pokemon on the coast, so maybe we can find some more.”

“I think we just did,” Gaster said, point toward the shore.

Looking to where his crewmate was pointing, Taraka saw a Carvanha swimming near the water’s surface. “How about we go fishing, Roma?” the monk said, turning to his Tangrowth. With his Pokemon beside him, he approached the water’s edge.

“Allow me to help with that,” Axel said, sending out his Charizard. “Get that Carvanha, Ritsu! Use Dragon Rage!” Flying out over the water, Ritsu spit a ball of draconic fire at the unsuspecting fish.

“Do it to it, Roma,” Taraka said. “Use Stun Spore.” The monk’s Tangrowth spewed out some powder on the surface of the water, which caused the Carvanha to begin swimming erratically. The carnivorous fish Pokemon suddenly leapt out of the water, sinking its teeth into one of her vine arms. The attack didn’t seem to do much other than annoy the Tangrowth, who began flailing her arm around, trying to shake it off.

“Just hold it there,” Taraka said, approaching the two Pokemon. He pulled out a Pokeball, then pressed it against the Carvanha, capturing it instantly.

As he put his newly filled Pokeball away, Taraka heard a snarling sound beside him. He turned to see Axel’s Charizard giving him the stink-eye. “What?” the monk asked the Pokemon.

“She thought that Carvanha was dinner,” Axel said.

“You eat enough as it is,” Taraka said, looking Ritsu right in the eye.

The Charizard let out a low growl, then took to the skies. She dove down, flying low over the water, then dipped her head in. A moment later, Ritsu pulled out another Carvanha, which she then tossed up into the air. The Charizard proceeded to roast it with flames, then gulp it down in one bite before it hit the water.

“That’s my girl!” Axel laughed gleefully.

Taraka couldn’t help but chuckle. “Come,” he said. “Let us return to the ship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: The Pokemon Hunting Adventures of Gaster and Taraka, Part 1. This was the first of several sessions throughout this campaign where only Taraka's and Gaster's players attended the session and they decided just to look for Pokemon. For this particular chapter, however, I messed around with the order things happened in. The bulk of this chapter is the entirety of Session 19, but the beginning and end bits are from the beginning and end of session 20. Axel's player had to miss yet another session, but it didn’t make sense to wait for Gaster and Axel to meet until after this chapter, so I opened up with the dialogue from the start of the following following session when Axel's player was there because it flowed better. The players had also planned to go to the next gym, which I had determined to be a ghost gym, several sessions prior, but we hadn’t got around to it with the roster changes, so I included it in this scene as well. That was the reason they went looking for dark types anyway. They got lucky as one of the limited number of planets I generated for them had dark as its common Pokemon type. As for the ending, they ended up returning to the planet again after the gym fight in the next session since there was extra time left over. For narrative reasons, it made more sense to me for them to have only visited it once, so I wrote it as if Axel had gone off on his own and then joined up with them later. There were a few fun fights here, and some good RP. The whole thing with Charizard wanting to eat the Carvanha was Axel’s player's doing, so after Taraka's player caught it, I had Axel's player roll to find another one for his Pokemon to eat for shits and giggles. And he went and rolled a 1 on the d100 roll. So I had his Charizard do a badass thing. It was a fun and hilarious way to end that session.


	26. Frightening Phantoms of Fura!

“You sure you don’t want to join us?” Axel asked as the  _UAS Maverick_  approached the space station in the Fura system containing the Sector 33 Pokemon gym.

“I am quite certain, sir,” Roland replied. “I am not suited to this sort of thing, nor are my Pokemon strong enough yet.”

“I would prefer to stay here as well,” Ace said. “I would rather be working here on the ship.”

“What about you, Captain?” Axel asked, turning to look at Cyrus.

“I’ve already earned this badge,” the captain said. “I beat the previous gym leader a few years back.”

“Well, aren’t you special,” Axel said.

“Why yes, I am,” Cyrus said, flashing a cheeky grin.

“This just means more prize money for the three of us,” Gaster chimed in, motioning at Axel, Taraka and himself.

“I like the way you think,” Axel said to the former smuggler, letting out a chuckle as he patted him on the back. “C’mon. Let’s go beat this gym.”

“Good luck,” Cyrus called after the trio as they departed. “You’ll need it.”

Axel strode confidently down the dimly lit corridor of the station, flanked by Gaster and Taraka. He was looking forward to challenging the gym leader. Ritsu had only been a Charmander during the mercenary’s last gym challenge and now that she was a full grown Charizard he was eager to see how she would fare in a battle with a tough trainer such as a gym leader. Whoever this guy was, Axel was sure Ritsu would be more than a match for him.

At the end of the corridor, the trio was greeted with a large doorway, which opened for them as they approached, casting light into the dark chamber on the other side. Once they stepped through, the doors slid shut behind them. As his eyes began to adjust to the darkness, Axel gazed around. He and his crewmates stood in a big open chamber at the center of the station. It was completely dark save for the light of four torches along the outer walls and one more on a raised platform at the center, giving the entire chamber a spooky atmosphere.

With his companions behind him, Axel took a step toward the platform. As they approached, a man who was sat cross-legged on the platform, stood up to greet them. He had shaggy blonde hair of a ghostly pale shade and was dressed all in black with the exception of a long, flowing purple and red scarf.

“Hey there, ghost gym leader guy,” Axel said, taking another step forward.

“Are you here for a challenge?” the man asked in a low but smooth voice that seemed just the slightest bit creepy to Axel.

“I don’t know. I’m just following these two guys,” Gaster answered, nodding his head at Axel and Taraka.

“Yeah, we’re here to challenge you,” Axel said. “We wanted a break from fighting crazy people.”

“A break from almost dying, more like,” Taraka said.

Axel chuckled. “That too.”

“I suppose it’s ironic that we came to a ghost type gym to do it,” Taraka said.

At that, a devious smile appeared on the gym leader’s face. “Indeed. I am Adrian Avallach, master of ghost type Pokemon. Tell me, who do I have the pleasure of battling today?”

“The name’s Axel, and this is Taraka and Gaster.”

“Well met,” Adrian replied. “Now come,” he said, raising his hands in the air. “Let’s see what you’re made of.”

“You got it,” Axel said, stepping back in line with his crewmates. He then reached for Ritsu’s Pokeball and sent her out. The others followed his example, Gaster sending out his newly caught Houndoom and Taraka his Togekiss.

“Your Pokemon look strong,” Adrian said. “But let’s see how they fare against my ghosts.” The gym leader snapped his fingers and a Gengar appeared from nowhere. “Shadow, use Toxic!” he commanded the ghostly Pokemon as he pointed at Taraka’s Togekiss. Floating up to its target, the Gengar unleashed a cloud of noxious fumes, which enveloped the Togekiss and left her poisoned.

“Now, Ghost Step!” Adrian commanded. Just as quickly as it appeared, the Gengar faded away.

“What’s the matter, afraid to fight us directly?!” Axel shouted.

“My ghost Pokemon are just doing what they do best,” Adrian said, that mischievous grin still on his face.

“What, hiding from a fair fight?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Taraka said. “I’ve got a plan to draw them out from hiding.” The monk pulled out a thin strip of paper with a strange script written upon it and set it alight with a small red ball of psionic energy. As it burnt to ash, three ghost Pokemon faded into view: a Dusknoir lurking just behind Axel’s Charizard, a Banette sneaking up on Gaster’s Houndoom, and a Cofagrigus hanging back near the gym leader himself.

The sound of Adrian clapping soon began to echo throughout the chamber. “Ha! Clever!” the gym leader exclaimed. “I applaud your resourcefulness, but it won’t be enough.”

“Wait … where’s that Gengar?” Axel asked.

“Hmm,” Taraka said. “That cleanse tag should keep all Pokemon in the area from turning invisible.”

“Not if they’re using my special Ghost Step technique!” Adrian proclaimed.

“What?! That’s not fair!” Axel shouted angrily. “Ritsu, use Flamethrower!” The mercenary’s Charizard whipped around and sprayed flames at the Dusknoir creeping up on her, but it was one step ahead of her and maneuvered out of the way.

“You too, Lilith!” Gaster shouted. “Use Ember on that Dusknoir!” The former smuggler’s Houndoom ran up into the fray and spit her own flames at Adrian’s Dusknoir, but it avoided those as well.

“You’ll need to do better than that!” Adrian taunted. “Wraith, use Thunder Punch!” The gym leader’s Dusknoir clenched its ghostly hand into a fist as it began to spark with electrical energy. It then took a swing at Ritsu, landing a mighty blow. The attack, however, also left the Dusknoir burned.

“Ritsu’s got a few tricks up her sleeve too!” Axel shouted.

“I can assure you, we have far more,” Adrian replied. “Wight, use your Voodoo Doll ability to Curse Charizard and Houndoom!” Summoning pins out of thin air, the gym leader’s Banette jabbed them into itself. As the pins pressed into the Banette’s phantasmal form, ghostly energy began to swirl around Ritsu and Lilith.

“Now, consume your sitrus berry, then Ghost Step!” A wicked grin on its face, the Banette popped a berry into its mouth, then vanished just as the Gengar had.

Adrian then shifted focus to his Cofagrigus. “Mummy, use Toxic Spikes, then Ghost Step!” he commanded. His Pokemon sprayed out a bunch of poisonous caltrops in a line bisecting the arena, then joined the others in fading away.

Now, only Adrian’s Dusknoir remained on the field, but only for a brief moment. The gym leader’s Gengar suddenly reappeared, ready to strike. “Shadow, use Hex on that Togekiss!” Adrian ordered the ghostly Pokemon. Heeding its trainer’s command, the Gengar unleashed a blast of ghostly energy on Taraka’s Pokemon, exploiting the fact that it had already poisoned her.

While Sirius survived the hit, Taraka seemed concerned about keeping her out. As his crewmate recalled the Togekiss to her Pokeball, Axel ordered his own Pokemon to attack. “Ritsu, use Fire Fang on that Dusknoir!” The mercenary’s Charizard lunged at her target, snapping at it with flaming jaws and landing a hit this time.

“Lilith, come in behind and Bite it!” Gaster followed up with a command of his own. His Houndoom moved in for the attack, but the Dusknoir evaded once more.

“You’ll certainly fit in with us the way your Pokemon is missing,” Axel grunted out a laugh.

“I guess I’m just inheriting your bad luck,” the former smuggler quipped back.

The pair’s banter was cut short, however, when Adrian’s Banette reappeared.

“Get it, Ritsu!” Axel shouted.

“Not so fast! Wight, use Phantom Force!” Adrian responded. Just as quickly as it had appeared, his Banette was gone, the Charizard’s flames engulfing the space it once occupied.

“Now, Wraith, use Shadow Punch!” Adrian commanded his Dusknoir, seizing upon the distraction his Banette had caused. Striking with its shadowy fist, the gym leader’s Pokemon landed a direct hit. Despite the powerful blow, Ritsu still had some fight left in her.

“You’re gonna need to do more than that to bring Ritsu down!” Axell shouted.

“If you insist,” Adrian replied, flashing that devious grin again. “Wraith, use the Vampirism technique!” Without removing its fist from Ritsu, the Dusknoir drained away the last of the Charizard’s energy, bringing her down.

“What?!” Axel shouted. “You can’t do that! That’s not fair!”

“Special techniques aren’t against league rules,” Adrian replied calmly. “In fact, they are encouraged.”

“Special techniques? More like dirty fighting,” Axel grumbled under his breath as he recalled his fainted Pokemon.

As Axel reached for his next Pokeball, Adrian’s Cofagrigus reappeared. “Mummy, use Ominous Wind on that Houndoom!” the gym leader commanded the Pokemon. The lid of the Cofagrigus’s coffin slid open a bit more and a rush of stale air flew out at Gaster’s Pokemon, but the Houndoom managed to evade.

“Alright, Taiga, you’re up next,” Axel said, sending out his Sneasel.

“You too, Roma,” Taraka said, finally releasing his next Pokemon.

“This should be fun,” Adrian said at the sight of the newly sent out Pokemon. “Shadow, put that Tangrowth to sleep! Hypnosis!” Floating over to Roma, the gym leader’s Gengar stared her down with a hypnotic look in its eye, sending the Tangrowth into a deep sleep.

“That could be a problem,” Axel said to his crewmates.

“Do not worry,” Taraka replied. “She will wake in time. Focus on doing damage.”

“Right,” Axel said, nodding at his crewmate. “Taiga, use Faint Attack on that Dusknoir!” The mercenary’s Sneasel darted toward her target, claws bared. She struck fast and true, but the Dusknoir seemed unfazed despite the type advantage.

“Wraith, strike back with Thunder Punch!” Adrian commanded his Dusknoir in response. Fist sparking with electricity, his Pokemon took a swing at Taiga, but she nimbly evaded the attack, hopping back just in time.

Adrian then shifted his focus elsewhere, trying to keep control of the field. “Now is the time to strike, Wight!” he called out. “Hit that Houndoom!” Suddenly reappearing just behind Gaster’s Pokemon, the gym leader’s Banette swiped at her with conjured phantasmal claws.

“Lilith, use Bite!” Gaster responded quickly. His Houndoom quickly sank her fangs in to counterattack, undoing the progress the Banette had made in healing itself.

“Shadow, use Spite!” Adrian shouted. “Take care of that pesky move.” From across the arena, his Gengar sent out a burst of ghostly energy that caused Gaster’s Pokemon to wimper with fright.

“As for you, Mummy, double up those spikes!” the gym leader then ordered his Cofagrigus. Happy to oblige, the Pokemon spewed out more caltrops on top of the line of them it had already placed.

As this occurred, Gaster took the time to recall his injured and cursed Houndoom and send out his Krokorok instead. “A smart move,” Adrian commented. “But I’ve got plenty more curses for you. Wight, refresh yourself and use your Voodoo Doll ability again! Curse Sneasel and Krokorok!” Glowing with ghostly energy, the gym leader’s Banette conjured two more pins, which it jabbed into itself to inflict curses upon Axel’s and Gaster’s Pokemon.

“And something for Tangrowth too,” Adrian then said. “Shadow, use Nightmare!” With a wicked grin on its face, the gym leader’s Gengar enveloped the sleeping Roma in shadowy energy. Immediately, the Tangrowth began tossing and turning in her sleep.

“Come on, Roma, wake up!” Taraka called out. Sure enough, the monk’s words got through to his Pokemon and she shook herself awake. “Good, now use Shadow Punch!” Swiping with one of her vine arms, Roma knocked Adrian’s Gengar back, doing a real number on it.

“How unexpected,” Adrian commented, looking Taraka’s Pokemon over.

“Roma’s a special ghost type Tangrowth,” Taraka told the gym leader, noticing the inquisitive look on his face.

“Curious.”

“Alright, enough chatting!” Axel shouted. “Taiga, use Icy Wind on that Dusknoir!”

“Dodge and use Thunder Punch!” Adrian issued a counter command to his Pokemon. As Axel’s Sneasel came in for her attack, his Dusknoir floated out of the way, then struck with another electrified fist. Combined with the curse inflicted upon her, the hit left Taiga in pretty rough shape. Axel knew she could muster one last attack, however.

“Let’s see you dodge this!” the mercenary shouted at Adrian. “Taiga, use Faint Attack!” Ripping through the gym leader’s Dusknoir with razor sharp claws, Axel’s Sneasel struck fast and true, bringing the ghostly Pokemon down. Taiga then succumbed to the curse, collapsing where she stood.

“Heh, not bad,” Adrian said as he recalled his fainted Pokemon. Then, without missing a beat, the gym leader barked out orders at his other Pokemon. “Now, Mummy, Ominous Wind! Shadow, Sludge Bomb! Target that Tangrowth!” His Cofagrigus and Gengar moved in on Roma to attack. Taraka’s Tangrowth took the first hit dead on, but she managed to avoid the second.

Meanwhile, Gaster was keeping the pressure on Adrian’s Banette. “Jimothy, use Crunch!” the former smuggler commanded his Krokorok. With his Powerful jaws, Gaster’s Pokemon bit down on his target, finishing it off.

Adrian and his Pokemon still had some tricks up their sleeves, however. “Wight, unleash your curses!” With a spiteful look on its face, the Banette let loose a tide of ghostly energy before fading away. The phantasmal energies then formed into long, shadowy strands that began to swirl around Jimothy and Roma.

“Hang in there, Roma,” Taraka encouraged his Pokemon. “Use Vine Whip on that Cofagrigus! Drag it over the spikes!” Heeding the monk’s command, Roma reached out with her vine arms, striking the Cofagrigus with them, then wrapping them around it. She then proceeded to pull it down into the spikes it had thrown out on the ground, though that did not seem to have much of an affect on it.

“You won’t be doing that again,” Adrian said calmly. “Mummy, use Spite!” His Cofagrigus let out a burst of ghostly energy that forced Roma to release it. It then quickly floated back and away. “Now, throw out more spikes and surround it with the Shell Game technique!” As it moved back, Adrian’s Pokemon threw more poisonous caltrops around Taraka’s tangrowth. Then, with its many shadowy arms, it gathered up the spikes it had thrown previously and sprayed them at Roma, completely boxing her in.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Axel said, sending out Mugi. “Use Fire Spin on that Cofagrigus!” the mercenary commanded his Ninetales. She obliged and spit out a spiraling vortex of flames, but it spun out of control and Adrian’s Pokemon was easily able to evade it.

“You’ll need to do better,” Adrian tauned. “Shadow, use Hypnosis! Put that Tangrowth back to sleep!” With another hypnotic flash of the Gengar’s eyes, Roma was put back to sleep,, evening it back to a two-on-two matchup.

“Jimothy, use Swagger!” Gaster then commanded his own Pokemon. His Krokorok let out some taunting growls at Adrian’s Pokemon, but they didn’t achieve the desired effect.

“Mummy, counterattack with Hex!” Adrian ordered his Cofagrigus in response. Taking advantage of the curse upon Jimothy, the gym leader’s Pokemon unleashed a devastating blast of ghostly energy. Luckily, as a dark type Pokemon, the Krokorok resisted the attack, allowing him to keep fighting.

“You’re up, Shadow! Dream Eater!” Floating over the spikes surrounding Roma, Adrian’s Gengar got in close to the Tangrowth and sapped away the last of her strength as she slept. Feeding off this energy, the gym leader’s Pokemon revitalized itself.

“Jimothy, use Torment on the Cofagrigus!” Gaster commanded his Krokorok as Taraka recalled his fainted Pokemon. The sand-dwelling reptile let out another taunting growl and gestured at Adrian’s Cofagrigus, capturing its attention.

This gave Axel the opportunity he needed and he quickly pounced on it. “Mugi, use Ember!” The mercenary commanded his Ninetales. Unleashing a lick of flames, Mugi did a pretty solid number on the Cofagrigus, but it was a tough Pokemon.

It also had some devious tricks in store. With a menacing flash of its eyes, it left Mugi dazed. “Now, strike back with Ominous Wind!” Adrian ordered. It unleashed another rush of stale air from within its coffin, but Axel’s Ninetales snapped back to attention and managed to dodge to the side just in time.

“You’re up, Fels Vogel,” Taraka said, releasing his Aerodactyl. This was the first time Axel had seen him use the fearsome Pokemon, but he was glad he had brought it along. He knew it could do some real damage. “Use Rock Slide on that Gengar!” the monk commanded the Pokemon.

“Dodge and use Toxic!” Adrian called out in response. Adeptly maneuvering between the incoming rocks, his Gengar got in close and released a burst of toxic fumes, poisoning the Aerodactyl.

“Jimothy, keep focusing on that Cofagirugs! Use Sand Tomb!”

“You too, Mugi. Fire Spin!”

Unleashing their joint attack, Axel’s and Gaster’s Pokemon trapped Adrian’s Cofagrigus in a swirling vortex of sand of fire. As the violent storm of flames, sand, and molten glass whipped around it, the Cafogrigus began to wear down. Unfortunately, the attack also took the last of Jimothy’s strength. Succumbing to the curse upon him, the Krokorok collapsed.

“Hold steady,” Adrian told his Pokemon as the violent storm spun around it. “Target that Aerodactyl with Night Shade!” Out from the deadly vortex, a blast of spectral energy flew forth, striking Taraka’s Pokemon to devastating effect.

Axel knew that the Cofagrigus couldn’t hold out much longer, but it was still a threat as long as it remained on the battlefield. Mugi, however, wasn’t going to be the one to finish it off. Whatever the Cofagrigus had done to her was starting to really take effect, so he decided to recall her instead.

“Your turn, Ryner,” Axel said as he sent out his Alakazam.

“You too, Clara,” Gaster said, recalling his fainted Pokemon and sending out his Shuppet.

“I guess it’s time to even the odds again,” Adrian commented, sizing up the newly sent out Pokemon. “Shadow, use Sludge Bomb on that Aerodactyl!”

“Fels, get in there and Crunch it!” Taraka shouted.

As Adrian’s Gegar blasted him with sludge, the Aerodactyl pressed forward, flying in close to attack. Snapping at the poisonous ghost with his powerful jaws, Taraka’s Pokemon delivered a nasty blow. However, the Gengar did not seem to be showing signs of wearing out.  _If only it hadn’t healed itself_ , Axel thought.

“Alright, Clara, use Shadow Sneak on that Cofagrigus,” Gaster ordered his Shuppet as Axel thought over his next move. Heeding her trainer’s command, Clara flew in close to attack. However, the Cofagrigus fell to the vortex of burning sand surrounding it before she got in range.

“Unleash your final curses!” Adrian called out as his Pokemon fell to the ground. Suddenly, a storm of ghostly shadows rushed out from within the dormant coffin, enveloping Gaster’s Shuppet and Taraka’s Aerodactyl.

“And then there was one,” the gym leader said. He recalled his fainted Pokemon and turned to his Gagar. “Shadow, use Hex! Take out that Aerodactyl!” His final Pokemon unleashed her attack, but Fels Vogel fought through.

“Come on, Fels, take it down,” Taraka said. “Rock Slide!” With a fierce screeching roar, the Aerodactyl launched several rocks at the Gengar before collapsing to the ground, overtaken by the curse upon it.

“Alright, Ryner, let’s finish this!” Axel shouted. “Use Ice Beam!”

“Clara, use Night Shade!” Gaster commanded.

With one last joint attack, Axel’s Alakazam and Gaster’s Shuppet brought the Gengar down. The battle was won.

“Well done,” Adrian said as he recalled his final Pokemon. “I have to say, you are the strongest trainer’s I have fought in a very long time,” he continued as he began to approach. “However … you still have a ways to go. You won’t be able to rely on sheer numbers in every fight.”

“Well you’re the most annoying gym leader that we’ve fought in a very long time,” Taraka said, getting a laugh out of Gaster.

“You’re the only gym leader I’ve fought, so …” The former smuggler, trailed off into a chuckle as he recalled his Shuppet.

“Ha!” Axel laughed. “Well, I will say the first gym leader we fought was just as annoying.”

“Yeah, that’s why I said ‘in a long time,’” Taraka said.

“Every tough fight is annoying,” Adrian said, that same grin on his face again.

“Yeah, whatever,” Axel said.

The gym leader simply chuckled at the response and reached into his pocket. “Here you are: the Anomaly Badge, a symbol of your victory at this gym.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this was a tough one to write. I’m glad it’s done. This was a fun session. I always have fun with gym battles, though. Even though we had a ghost gym in the original campaign, I got ghost for the type for the gym when I randomly rolled for it a while before this session and decided to roll with it since I wanted to try my own hand at a ghost gym. The party had been planning to hit up the gym for a while, but due to roster changes and people missing sessions, it took time to finally happen.
> 
> I actually didn’t have a name for the gym leader at the time, only coming up with it later, and I shamelessly based him off Morty, the ghost gym leader from Silver and Gold, at least appearance-wise. It was hard to find art for his token in Roll20 that I really liked (on short notice, because I never got around to it until before the session despite week of prep time being available to me), so that’s why I settled for art of Morty. As for his Pokemon names, thanks to the GM of the original campaign for suggesting using different types of D&D undead as a naming scheme. I tried to pick ones that made sense for each Pokemon.
> 
> As for the fight itself, it taught me that I have to be very literal with all my explanations to the party because Taraka's and Axel's players get salty easily with these types of fights. Axel's player especially. He got so salty that again he got to the point of wanting to attack the gym leader. They definitely weren’t fans of what I was doing with Ghost Ace and Trickster. Gaster's player didn’t mind too much though. He even shares a class with Adrian, so maybe he felt some camaraderie.
> 
> A fun fact about this session: I kept track of the in-game date throughout the campaign on the Spacemon timeline document I have and, completely unplanned by me, this gym battle fell on Halloween in the game. Funny how that worked out.


	27. Forests and Flames!

“That should do it,” Taraka said as he set down the small watering can he used to water his fledgling apricorn garden. The monk then turned back to the small array of portable growers in which he had planted the handful of apricorns he had collected on the last few worlds the  _Maverick_  had visited. It had been a few days since they had been planted and they were close to blooming. At the moment, he only had apricorn plants of the green and pink variety, but he hoped to find many more.

“Now then,” he said to himself, turning toward his bed. With his plants seen to, it was time for his daily meditations.

After sitting down on his bed, Taraka brought his feet up into a cross-legged position, then took a deep breath before shutting his eyes. Focusing on his center, the monk attempted to block out his surroundings and clear his mind. However, he found himself unable to concentrate. His mind was wandering, reflecting back upon the events of the past several days.

Taraka couldn’t help but think about the assassin who was likely pursuing him now. He clearly wasn’t meant to recover the crystal from the ruins where he and his crewmates had battled her. Now that he had seen the vision it had triggered, Taraka feared that he would be her next victim.

If that wasn’t enough to worry about, there was also the matter of his new psionic abilities that had begun to manifest themselves. So far, the monk had been able to keep control of them as he figured out what he was capable of. The psionic flame he conjured while fighting off the assassin had been the only one that was accidental. Years of training in the monastery had allowed him to quickly figure out how to repeat what he had done, but he was still flying in the dark. He had never encountered such psionic abilities before, so he would just have to figure them out as he went along.

Taraka took in a deep breath and tried once more to clear his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on these things. He needed to focus on figuring out where he was meant to go next. As it was, his holoscroll was only half complete. Having found the ruins and the gem that he saw in his visions, Taraka had two remaining clues: the book and the figure. Unfortunately, the monk had no idea where to find them.

Taraka breathed out and opened his senses to his scroll. He had to remain hopeful. The answers would reveal themselves in time.

* * *

 

All was quiet aboard the  _UAS Maverick_  as the ship dropped out of warp space at the Sector 34 warp gate, having jumped from the neighboring Sector 33. Captain Cyrus Drake sat up in his seat and gazed out the cockpit’s front viewport at the vacuum of space. His ship was currently en route to the planet Araimia on the far side of the sector to make a delivery, but the warp drive needed some time to cool down before making the jump.

With that in mind, Cyrus decided he might as well give his crew some time to stretch their legs and maybe look for some Pokemon too. The  _Maverick_ ’s captain knew there were a couple habitable planets in this system that they could land on while they waited to jump. Cyrus reached for the comms to notify his crew, opening the shipwide channel.

“Anyone who wants some fresh air meet me at the front of the ship,” he announced before getting to his feet. He then turned to look at Anya in the pilot’s seat. “Take us further into the system,” he told her. “I’m gonna give the boys some free time on one of these planets.”

“You got it,” Anya replied, reaching for the controls.

A few minutes later, Cyrus was joined by Ace, Axel, Gaster, and Taraka near the ship’s scanners, just behind the cockpit. “Alright, we’ve got a bit of time before we can jump,” the Maverick’s captain explained. “There’s some habitable planets in this system, so I’d figured I’d give you some time to go look for Pokemon.”

“You know us so well, boss,” Axel said, chuckling. “What kind of planets do we have here?”

“Well, you’ve got two options,” Cyrus explained, motioning at the navchart. “There’s a planet covered in marshlands, and a forest world with lots of volcanoes. Take your pick.”

“You know me, Captain,” Axel said. “I say we check out that volcanic planet. I bet there are some cool fire types there.”

“How did I know you were going to say that?” Cyrus said, letting out a laugh.

“Because he’s Axel,” Taraka said.

“This man gets it,” Axel laughed. “So what do you guys think? Wanna check this planet out?”

“Works for me,” Gaster said.

“I am fine with this as well,” Taraka agreed.

“What about you, Ace?” Axel asked, looking over at the android. “It’s been awhile since you joined us on a good Pokemon hunt.”

“I’m in,” Ace replied with a nod.

“That settles it then,” Axel said, grinning. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

A slight smile appeared on Taraka’s face as he took in a breath of the night time forest air. “What a lovely evening,” the monk said, looking over at Gaster, who was accompanying him through the woods. The two had paired up again to search for Pokemon amongst the trees while Axel had taken Ace with him to check out one of the volcanoes.

“Hopefully the Pokemon agree and decide to come out from hiding,” Gaster replied, scanning the bushes for any signs of life.

“I am certain we will find some,” Taraka said as they stepped out into an open clearing much like the one the  _Maverick_  had landed in. From here, the monk could see the two large volcanic mountains that formed the valley they were in rising above the treeline.

As he was admiring the view, Taraka suddenly heard the hoot of a Hoothoot. Turning to the source of the noise, the monk spotted the Pokemon sitting in the hollow of a large tree. “What did I tell you?” he said to his crewmate. “Want to catch it?”

“I’m more interested in that,” Gaster replied, pointing across the clearing.

Looking in the direction the former smuggler was pointing, Taraka saw an Oddish emerging from the trees. It seemed to be wandering aimlessly. As the two watched the Pokemon move about, Taraka heard a rustling in the bushes to their left. He turned to look just as a Flareon stepped out into the clearing, sniffing along the ground.

“And here comes something I would like to capture,” Taraka said.

“Good luck,” Gaster said before sending out his Shuppet and walking off toward the Oddish.

“To you as well,” the monk replied, nodding. “Now then,” he said, reaching for Sirius’s Pokeball. “Let’s see about catching you, my furry little friend.”

As the monk and his newly sent out Togekiss approached the Flareon, it tensed up and growled at them, warning them to back off. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” Taraka said. As a precaution, he put up a psionic barrier before turning to his Pokemon. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind.”

The Togekiss landed her attack, prompting to the Flareon to spit flames in her direction. Luckily, Sirius managed to evade, dancing gracefully around the fiery attack. “Now, Fairy Wind again,” Taraka commanded his Pokemon. Sirius launched her attack again, but this time the Flareon was smart and spit flames at her backside as she flew past. Instinctively, Taraka stepped in front of the incoming attack to protect his Pokemon, using his barrier to shield himself. He then hit the Flareon with his staff, driving it back.

“Fairy Wind again!” Taraka then called out. He ducked down as Sirius flew overhead, shooting down another blast of air at the Flareon. As got to his feet, Taraka glanced over at Gaster just in time to witness his crewmate successfully capture the Oddish. _Looks like he’s having more luck than I am_ , the monk thought to himself.

Turning back to his own prospective capture, Taraka saw it running right at him. Unable to react in time, the monk felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg as the Flareon sunk its sharp teeth into it. Grunting in pain, Taraka mashed a Pokeball he had made from an apricorn earlier against the Flareon. He instantly felt relief from the pain as the Pokemon was pulled inside. The ball shook a couple of times in his hand before falling still.

Taraka breathed a sigh of relief, then sat down in the grass to tend to his leg. After bandaging his leg up and applying some medicine, the monk looked over to see Gaster’s Shuppet trading blows with the Hoothoot from earlier. “Go help them out, Sirius,” Taraka told his Pokemon. “Use Sweet Kiss to daze it!”

Seizing upon the opportunity Sirius provided, Gaster took a shot at the Hoothoot with his rifle, landing a good hit. Unfortunately, that only made the Pokemon angry. With a hypnotic flash of its eyes, the Hoothoot put Gaster’s Shuppet to sleep, then flew right at the former smuggler.

Gaster reacted quickly, throwing a Pokeball right at the Hoothoot. The ball pulled the Pokemon inside, then fell to the ground. It shook only once before breaking open. Taraka watched as the Hoothoot flew right at his crewmate again. Gaster quickly dodged out of the way of the attack, however.

“Sirius, wake his Shuppet up with Gentle Vibe!” Taraka called out to his Pokemon. As Sirius flew over to Gaster’s Pokemon to do her thing, Taraka watched his crewmate attempt another capture.

“Screw this!” Gaster shouted as the Hoothoot broke out of yet another ball. “Clara finish it off!” he then called out to his newly awoken Shuppet. “Use Knock Off!” Floating over to the Hoothoot as fast as she could, Clara bashed into it, knocking it out.

“Damn thing was more trouble than it was worth,” Gaster grumbled as he walked over to Taraka. “At least I caught the Pokemon I actually wanted.”

“Likewise,” Taraka said, holding up the ball that now held his Flareon.

“You alright?” Gaster asked, glancing at the bandage on the monk’s leg as he pulled him to his feet. “Should we head back to the ship.”

“It is not that bad and I have already patched it up,” Taraka replied, smiling. “I would like to keep looking around.”

“Alright then,” Gaster said. “Works for me.”

* * *

“This looks pretty good,” Gaster said as he shined the light on his rifle down into the dark cave entrance he and Taraka had stumbled upon during their exploration. “Might be some different kinds of Pokemon down here,” the former smuggler continued. “Wanna check it out?”

“Indeed,” Taraka said, nodding.

And with that, the pair descended into the dark tunnel. However, it didn’t remain dark for long. As they went deeper, the whole place was lit up by the glow of lava flows. The two soon found themselves in a large open cavern with a large lava pool in it. Apart from the rocky ‘shore’ they stood upon, the only ground was a large flat rock in the center of the lava lake, upon which stood a Magmar.

As he scanned the cavern with his rifle, Gaster spotted three red-coloured Zubats flying around the stalactites above the pool of lava. He also saw a Quilava wandering along the edge of the pool a few meters away from where he and Taraka were standing, and a Torkoal a few meters past it.

“There a lots of Pokemon here,” Gaster said, looking over at Taraka.

“Axel would love this cave,” Taraka said, letting out a chuckle. “I wonder if he and Ace found anything like this.”

“Let’s just be glad he’s not here,” Gaster said, reaching for Jimothy’s Pokeball. “Otherwise he’d take all these fire types for himself.”

“Good point,” Taraka said, sending out his Aerodactyl.

As the two sent out their Pokemon, the three Zubats flew down at them, sensing a threat. “Quick, use Torment!” Gaster commanded his Krokorok. Jimothy made taunting growls at the Zubats as they closed in, throwing off their senses. Gaster seized the opportunity to fire off a few shots, landing a couple hits on one of them.

“Fels Vogel, use Ancient Power!” Taraka then commanded his own Pokemon before throwing up a psionic barrier. The Aerodactyl let loose a powerful attack that blasted one of the attacking Zubats several meters back, right into the lava pool. With a mighty roar, Fels then lifted off the ground, flying high above the lake of motel rock. This caught the attention of the Magmar, which began spitting flames out at the Aerodactyl. However, Fels’s rocky hide kept him safe from harm.

As the remaining Zubats flew at Taraka’s Aerodactyl, Gaster shifted his attention to the Quilava, which was watching the commotion from behind a rock. That was the Pokemon he was really after, and Taraka and his Pokemon seemed to have things under control with the Zubats.

“Jimothy, hit that Quilava with Sand Tomb!” Gaster ordered his Pokemon, pointing out the target. His Krokorok fired off a vortex of sand, but the Quilava took shelter behind the rock, avoiding the hit. When the dust settled, the Quilava launched out from behind the rock, curled up in a ball of flames. “Look out, Jimothy!” Gaster called out. Jimothy heeded the warning, diving out of the way just in time.

Just then, one of the Zubats shot past, knocked back by an attack from Taraka’s Aerodactyl. Taking advantage of the situation, Gaster chucked a Pokeball at the hurt Pokemon. The ball pulled the Zubat in, but it broke open before it even hit the ground and its damaged parts went flying into the lava pool.

“Damn,” Gaster said as the Zubat began flying at him. Before he could dodge out of the way, the Pokemon sank its fangs into his arm. Grunting in pain, Gaster hit the Zubat with his other hand, knocking it off and into a rock.

As he turned to throw another ball at the Zubat, Gaster saw Taraka successfully capture the other one, then begin walking over to help. While his Aerodactyl continued to fight it out with the Magmar, which had since moved to the ‘shore’ from the ‘island’ it had been resting on, the monk sent out his Togekiss. “Sirius, use Yawn!” Taraka ordered the Pokemon. “Put it to sleep!”

Once the Zubat had dozed off thanks to Sirius, Gaster pulled out another Pokeball and threw it. The ball pulled the Zubat inside, and this time it stayed inside. “Glad that’s out of the way,” Gaster said as he turned back to the Quilava, which Jimothy was continually dodging at it attacked.

“Use Sand Tomb!” Gaster called out to his Pokemon. Jimothy let loose his attack, but the Quilava dodged once more, then struck him dead on with another Flame Wheel attack.

“Allow me to assist,” Taraka said. The monk raised a hand and let loose a psionic burst that caused the Quilava to stumble over in a daze.

Before he could react, Gaster saw a vortex of flames engulf Jimothy. He looked at where it had come from to see the Torkoal plodding over. It seemed to have been drawn by all the comotion. “Damn,” Gaster grumbled.

“Leave that one to me,” Taraka said, firing off another burst of psionic energy, stunning the Torkoal much like he had the Quilava.

“Right,” Gaster said, nodding. He then turned back to the Quilava. “Jimothy, use Crunch!” Breaking free of the flames spinning around him, Gaster’s Krokorok ran at the Quilava and sank his fangs in, causing it to curl up in a defensive ball. The former smuggler then recalled his Pokemon, because he was starting to look worn out.

“You’re up, Lulabelle!” Gaster called out as he sent out his Cinccino. “Use Sing!” As she emerged from her ball, Lulabelle let out an ear-splitting cry that left the Quilava and Torkoal momentarily stunned, but it failed to have a lasting effect like Gaster had hoped. In fact, both Pokemon seemed to be more angered than anything. Still curled up in a ball, the Quilava rolled at Lulabell, igniting into flames. The Cinccino managed to dodge the attack, but that left her open to the Torkoal, which spit flames at her and landed a hit.

“Fels Vogel, Rock Slide that Torkoal! Sirius, Fairy Wind the Quilava!” Taraka commanded his Pokemon. There was a loud thud as the Aerodactyl touched down on the ground and attacked the Torkoal, and a rush of air as the Togekiss blasted the Quilava.

“Now for the capture,” Gaster said, pulling out another Pokeball. He threw it as hard as he could at the Quilava, and it was pulled inside. It shook once … then twice … three times … then fell still.

Turning back to the rest of the battle, Gaster saw Taraka recall his Aerodactyl after it took a spray of fire from the Magmar. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind!” the monk then commanded his Togekiss.

As Taraka seemed focused on the Magmar, Gaster decided to focus on the Torkoal. “Lulabelle, use Encore!” This attempt to get the Torkoal’s attention worked a little too well, and was answered with a swirling vortex of flames. Seeing this, Gaster quickly fired off several shots from his rifle, hitting both the Torkoal and the Magmar, leaving both looking rather worn down.

“Now’s the time to catch them!” Gaster shouted.

Two swift Pokeball tosses by Taraka later, the two fire Pokemon were captured. Gaster let out a sigh of relief, then collected his captures. “That got out of hand fast,” the former smuggler said, letting out a laugh.

“But we emerged victorious,” Taraka replied with a smile.

Gaster nodded. “That we need. Now, let’s get back to the ship. I’m worn out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: The Pokemon Hunting Adventures of Gaster and Taraka, Part 2. Axel's player was gone again, so it was just Taraka's and Gaster's players again. They decided to look for Pokemon again too. I generated a couple of planets for them, and they chose a forest/mountain planet with fire types out of the two options. For this chapter, I wrote it that Axel went off to look on his own again, although he had Ace this time because why not. It just didn’t make sense to me that Axel would just stay on the ship on a planet with fire types. It was a fun little session though. They went looking in the woods first and caught some Pokemon, an Oddish which became one of Gaster’s mainstays, and a cute lil Flareon. Then it was into the volcanic caves. They rolled good so I threw a bunch of Pokemon at them, including some fire-shifted Zubats! They caught almost everything! On a side note, this is also the last session before Roland’s player dropped out.


	28. Trouble with Tyranitar

“Well gentlemen, it has certainly been quite the exciting adventure these past few weeks,” Roland said, planting his cane firmly on the ground at the foot of the  _Maverick_ ’s cargo ramp. The merchant had what few belongings he owned with him as he prepared to depart from the ship.

“Indeed it has,” Cyrus replied with a nod. “Good luck on your future ventures, Roland.”

“Thank you, sir,” Roland said, smiling. “And to you as well,” he continued, looking around at the  _Maverick_ ’s crew, who had gathered to see him off. “All of you. I am forever in your debt for the hospitality you have shown.”

Roland had grown to quite like the people he had come to call his friends and crewmates, and he couldn’t help but feel a little sad to part ways with them. However, an opportunity that was too good to pass up had presented itself. That was how the  _Maverick_  had ended up on Araimia. An old friend of the merchant had reached out to him regarding an archaeological site that had been recently uncovered on the planet, requesting his assistance in researching the artifacts that were being recovered. This was no mere favor either; Roland was being offered quite the sum of credits to work on the project.

“Don’t mention it,” Cyrus said. “We’re always happy to help those in need.”

“Try not to get yourself killed,” Axel said, grinning.

“Oh, I can assure you, sir, that I have every intention of staying alive,” Roland replied.

“Parting ways with us is a wise decision then,” Taraka said. “Your chances of survival have surely gone up.”

“That’s probably true,” Axel agreed, letting out a loud laugh.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Gaster asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh don’t mind them,” Cyrus told the newest addition to the crew. “Danger seems to have a way of seeking us out, but we’re more than capable of handling it.”

“That’s good to know,” Gaster said.

“Well then, gentlemen,” Roland said. “This is the part where I take my leave.”

Cyrus gave the merchant a nod. “Take care of yourself, Roland.”

Roland nodded in response then turned to grab the case containing his belongings. “Farewell!” he called out, giving the Maverick crew one last wave. And then he went on his way, off to the exciting new opportunity that awaited him.

* * *

 

“Ah,” Axel sighed contently as he stepped off the cargo ramp out into the spaceport on Araimia where the  _Maverick_  was parked. “It’s a lovely day to make some money.” A wide grin formed on the mercenary’s face as he took a look around at the various ships, paying no mind to the group of shady looking men hanging out by one of them. An Outer Rim world like this one was the perfect place to make some quick cash.

“It’s  _always_  a lovely day to make some money,” Gaster said as he walked up behind Axel.

“Hah,” Axel laughed. “True enough. Now, what do you say, boys? How about we head into town and find a job?”

“A sound plan,” Taraka agreed, joining his two crewmates.

With that, the trio departed from the spaceport and made their way into town, one of of the many settlements on Araimia. In terms of Outer Rim colonies, the place was pretty nice looking. It was also situated in a lovely spot at the foot of the rocky rolling hills that dominated the landscape and not too far from the shore of Araimia’s massive ocean.

After some searching for a job board without success Axel, Gaster, and Taraka found themselves at the town’s colonial security office. It wasn’t much to see, being just a small building with a handful of security officers inside.

“How can I help you folks?” one of the officers asked as the three crewmates walked in. He seemed to be sizing them up just in case they were there to start trouble.

“Just lookin’ for work,” Axel said. “I don’t suppose you know of anything in this town that needs doing?”

“So you’re bounty hunters, then?” the officer asked.

“Something like that,” Gaster said.

“Well you’re in luck. The town’s having some trouble with wild Pokemon attacks,” the officer explained. “We’re too few to properly deal with them and no one from the other settlements on Araimia can be bothered to come lend a hand.”

“I think we can handle that for you,” Axel said, an eager grin on his face. “Just point us in the right direction.”

“Up in the hills,” the officer said. “That’s where its den is.”

“What’s den?” Taraka asked.

“The huge Tyranitar that’s been terrorizing the town for the past several weeks. It’s a mighty beast and no one is brave enough to take it on despite the reward.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Axel assured the man with a chuckle. “We shall go take care of this Tyranitar for you.”

“Good luck,” the officer said, an incredulous look on his face. “You’re gonna need it.”

“I think you’ll find that we’re more than capable of handling this,” Axel said confidently. “What do you think, boys?” he then asked, turning to Gaster and Taraka.

“I’m all for it,” Gaster said. “But I want to pick up some more Pokeballs first. Maybe we can catch it.”

Axel’s grin widened. “I like the way you think, Gaster.”

* * *

The midday sun was still shining brightly aa Axel, Gaster, and Taraka made their way up through the rocky hills on the outskirts of town. Reaching the top of a rather large outcropping, Gaster paused to look around and get the lay of the land. They had been searching the hills for a few hours now, and the former smuggler had yet to see any sign of the Tyranitar’s den.

“And here I thought this was going to be an easy job,” Axel grumbled. He was clearly starting to get impatient.

“We haven’t really been searching that long,” Gaster told the mercenary. “We just need to find a trail or something, then we can track it back to its den.”

“That’s gonna take too long,” Axel replied. “Tyranitar, show yourself!” he then shouted loudly. He was answered only by the faint echo of his own voice and the wind rushing between the rocks.

Gaster sighed. “I honestly don’t know what you were expecting to happen.”

“He does this a lot,” Taraka said. Gaster looked in the monk’s direction to see him shrugging.

“Hey, it was worth a shot,” Axel said.

“Well, since that didn’t work, how about we find a trail to follow?” Gaster said. “C’mon. Let’s get moving.”

Sure enough, after a bit more searching, Gaster soon located a set of large tracks leading between the rocks. As there wasn’t much sign of other life in the hills, Gaster’s keen survival instincts told him these likely belonged to the Tyranitar they were looking for. After being stranded on a planet for months, he liked to consider himself a pretty good tracker. He knew they would be able to follow the Tyranitar’s tracks back to its lair.

Doing just that, the trio soon arrived at another large rocky outcropping. Upon further approach, Gaster could see that the tracks led into a path between the rocks and to a large cave entrance.

“This must be the Tyranitar’s den,” Taraka said.

“What did I tell you?” Gaster asked him comrades.

“Great, let’s go,” Axel said, taking a step toward the cave entrance.

“Now hold on a minute,” Gaster said. “Let’s be smart about this. We should wait outside and set up an ambush.”

“Oh, come on,” Axel replied. “We can take it no problem.”

“I’m with Gaster on this,” Taraka said. “We should wait for it to come to us.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Axel asked, taking another step toward the cave. He then inhaled deeply before shouting at the top of his lungs into the cave. “Tyranitar, show yourself!”

There was a tense moment of silence as the trio waited to see what would happen, then a powerful roar echoed out from the cave. It was followed by a loud thud that shook the ground beneath their feet. Then another. And another.

“Great, now you’ve done it,” Gaster said. He released his recently captured Quilava, then took cover behind the nearest rock.

“Don’t worry,” Axel said as he released two of his own Pokemon. “This is gonna be fun.”

“I think you have a very different idea of fun than the rest of us,” Taraka said, sending out a Pokemon of his own and throwing up a psionic barrier.

A moment later, the Tyranitar emerged from the cave and let out another roar at the sight of the trespassers in its territory. Tyranitars were large Pokemon, but this one was massive. It reminded Gaster of the giant Garchomp and Venbaxxen that had terrorized him for so many days and nights. This time, however, he had the means to capture the beast.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Axel called out. “Tsumugi, use Icy Wind! Ryner, use Ice Beam!” the mercenary ordered his Pokemon. His Ninetales and Alakazam unleashed their chilling attacks, but the Tyranitar brought its arms up to protect its face, and deflected the freezing assault with its rocky hide.

Letting out another ferocious roar, the Tyranitar drew its arms back, then took a swing at Axel’s Ninetales. “Look out, Tsumugi!” the mercenary called out to his Pokemon in warning. Heeding her trainer’s words, Tsumugi dodged back just in time. Chucks of stone went flying as the Tyranitar’s fist collided with the rock instead of its intended target.

“Damn, that thing hits hard,” Gaster said. He definitely wanted to avoid taking a blow like that. “Rusty, use Smokescreen and give us some cover!” the former smuggler commanded his Quilava. As his Pokemon laid down a cover of thick black smoke between the Tyranitar and himself and his crewmates, Gaster moved into the haze. The massive beast would have a hard time hitting him as long as he stayed in the smoke, but his cybernetic eyes allowed him to see just fine. Aiming down the sight of his rifle, Gaster fired off a shot, piercing through the Tyranitar’s rocky hide.

“Arctos, use Icy Wind!” Taraka then commanded his Beartic. As a layer of frost began forming on its body, the Tyranitar stomped forward against the chilled air blowing it back, then took a bite out of Arctos, doing some serious damage to him.

“Ryner, you too!” Gaster heard Axel call out. “Icy Wind! Tsumugi, Dazzling Gleam!” As the mercenary’s two Pokemon unleashed their attacks, the Tyranitar managed to evade the Tsumugi’s fairy type attack, only to be hit by Ryner’s blast of cold air that left its legs encased in a thin layer of ice.

Now seeming even angrier, the Tyranitar lashed out at Taraka’s Beartic again, but the ice that had formed around its legs hampered its movements, buying Arctos the opportunity to evade. “Now, use Brine!” Taraka commanded. The Tyranitar let out another angry roar as it was blasted with a tide of water. The ice immobilizing it shattered as it lunged forward, this time landing a decisive blow. The only reason the Beartic managed to stay standing was the protection of his trainer’s psionic barrier.

While the Tyranitar’s attention was drawn by Taraka’s Pokemon, Gaster took the opportunity to recall Rusty and send out a more effective Pokemon. His Quilava had done his job already. Now it was up to Gaster’s other new Pokemon, Oddish. “Ficus, use Stun Spore!” the former smuggler ordered his newly sent out Pokemon. The Tyranitar quickly seized up as it was coated in a dusting of immobilizing powder.

Axel was quick to jump on the opportunity Gaster had provided, ordering both his Pokemon to attack. “Tsumugi, Icy Wind! “Ryner, Ice Beam!”

Gaster followed suit, firing off several shots from his rifle. ‘Now Poison Powder!” the former smuggler commanded his Oddish. Another spray of powder later, the Tyranitar was showing signs of weakening as the last of its strength began to sap away.

“Now’s the time to catch it!” Taraka called out as he blasted it with psionic energy, further dazing it.

“You got it,” Gaster said, wasting no time in pulling out a great ball and throwing it at the Tyranitar. The ball hit dead on, pulling the powerful Pokemon inside. It shook once … twice … three times … then it fell still.

“Nice work, Ficus,” Gaster said to his Pokemon as he walked over to claim his prize. Turning back to look at the Oddish, he could see her beginning to glow, a sign of evolution. A moment later, he was looking at a Gloom. “Well, that was easy,” he said.

“Almost as easy as fighting that Tyranitar!” Axel laughed loudly.

“No thanks to you angering it,” Taraka said.

“I believe the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you Axel for luring the Tyranitar into our ambush.’”

“ _Right_ ,” Gaster said dryly.

“Now, let’s see what’s inside its cave,” Axel said.

* * *

After a quick search of the beast’s lair, which revealed nothing but a few old Pokeballs that likely belonged to the last trainers brave enough to try capturing it and a pile of bones that Axel assumed were left behind from its last meal, the trio headed back to town to claim their reward.

“So you’re back,” the colonial security officer from earlier said upon their return to the office.

“Back for our reward,” Axel said bluntly, a grin on his face. “That Tyranitar won’t be bothering this town anymore.”

“Oh really?” the man asked incredulously.

“I got it right here if you want proof,” Gaster said, holding up the ball containing his new Pokemon. He then stepped outside and released the Tyranitar right outside the window.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the officer said. “Let me get that reward for you.”

“Damn right,” Axel said. “Anything else need doing while we’re at it?”

“This is a small town,” the officer replied. “There’s not a whole lot of need for people of your skillset around here, but we are grateful for the service you have done for us.”

“We are happy to be of service,” Taraka said.

Axel nodded. “As long as we get paid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun little chapter to write. Since this was the first session after Roland’s player officially dropped out of the campaign, I added a scene at the beginning of the chapter to explain his departure and to give the crew a reason for visiting the planet other than just cause. It was something we never really handled in game for some reason. So yeah, this is the first bit of session 22. They went to a random planet and went looking for jobs and fought a slightly oversized Tyranitar. It wasn’t nearly as big as that Garchomp a few chapters back, though, even though I made a comparison in the writing. The fight was fun, but I missed a lot so the Tyranitar didn’t do nearly as much devastation as I expected. It didn’t even get to benefit from Guts stages because it was immobilized by paralysis on the one turn it had after getting poisoned before it got captured. There were some fun moments here too, such as Axel's player yelling into the cave like an idiot. We all got a good laugh at that. I did add a bunch of party banter too just to make the chapter more fun. They did more on the planet this session, but it made more sense to put that in the next chapter, so look forward to more Araimia adventures next time!


	29. A Wailord of a Time

The vastness of Araimia’s ocean stretched across the horizon as Axel, Gaster, and Taraka rode across the waves in the small speedboat they had rented back at the harbour. Having dealt with the Tyranitar up in the hills, the three member of the  _Maverick_  crew had decided to explore the waters and see what Pokemon they could find there. Looking out at the gently bobbing sea as he steered the boat, Gaster watched the sunlight glitter beautifully on the waves.

“Ah, this is the life, boys,” Axel said as he leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head to rest against them.

“I’d have thought you, of all people, wouldn’t like being surrounded by this much water,” Gaster teased the mercenary.

“Hey, just because I like fire doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the beauty of the sea,” Axel replied.

Gaster smirked. “Fair enough.”

“Hey look, an island,” Taraka suddenly spoke up, putting an end to their conversation.

Gaster looked where the monk was pointing and, sure enough, he could see a small rocky island in the distance. As it drew nearer, the former smuggler thought he could make out some moving figures on it. “What do you know?” he said. “Looks like there might be some Pokemon on it.”

“Let’s check it out!” Axel said excitedly.

“Works for me,” Gaster agreed, steering the boat in the direction of the island.

A few minutes later, they came up on the island only to find that its shoreline was a tall, rocky cliff all the way around. “Looks like we’re gonna need to fly,” Axel said. The mercenary reached for a Pokeball and sent out his Charizard. As Axel mounted up, Taraka followed suit and sent out his Aerodactyl.

“You know I don’t have a Pokemon that can fly, right?” Gaster asked his crewmates.

“Fels Vogel can carry both of us,” Taraka said, motioning to his Pokemon. The monk then climbed up on the Aerodactyl’s back, and then held out his hand. Gaster grabbed hold, and Taraka pulled him up.

The trio’s two winged Pokemon then lifted off, carrying their trainers up onto the island. It was a flack slab of rock with an elevated section on the far side, separated from the lower level by another steep cliff. Looking in that direction as he slid off the back of Taraka’s Aerodactyl onto the rocky ground, Gaster could see the moving figures he saw before near the base of the cliff.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here,” the former smuggler said as he began walking toward them. Upon approach, Gaster saw that the figures were, in fact, Pokemon, a Barbaracle and a pair of Binacles, to be exact.

“Shall we?” Axel asked, walking up beside Gaster.

Gaster nodded, then sent out his Shuppet.

“Alright,” Axel said. “But first …” The mercenary reached for a Pokeball, and recalled his Charizard. “This is not a job for Ritsu,” he said before sending out his Luxio instead.

“Fels, Bite the one on the left,” Taraka commanded his Aerodactyl as he joined his two crewmates. His Pokemon quickly flew at the wild Pokemon and snapped up the Binacle to the left of the Barbaracle in his jaws.

Gaster, meanwhile, took aim at the Barbaracle with his rifle and fired off a shot, landing a direct hit. “Now, Clara, use Will-o-Wisp!” he then commanded his Shuppet. His ghostly Pokemon sent sent a eerie flame over to the Barbaracle, drawing its ire. The fierce Pokemon ran beneath Taraka’s Aerodactyl, straight for Clara, and slashed through her with one of its razor-sharp claws.

“Fels, switch targets to the Barbaracle,” Taraka ordered his Pokemon. “Use Crunch!” His Aerodactyl dropped the Binacle in his mouth then lunged down at the Barbaracle, sinking his razor sharp teeth in. The monk, meanwhile, pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it at the Binacle, capturing it instantly.

As for Axel, he moved up on the right flank. “Krieg, use Charge,” the mercenary instructed his Luxio as the two approached the remaining Binacle. As Axel’s Pokemon stored up electrical energy, the Binacle began scooching along the ground toward them to engage the new threat. Deciding to help out, Gaster aimed his rifle at the Binacle and fired off a shot, doing a real number on it.

“Alright, Krieg, I’ve got this now,” Axel said to his Pokemon, “Go after that Barbaracle. Use Spark!” Breaking away from his trainer, Krieg ran at the Barbaracle, sparking violently from all the built up energy inside him. He then dove at his target, releasing all the charged up electricity. Although it was now looking quite worn out by now, the Barbaracle wasn’t done yet; it scratched its claws together menacingly, seeming to taunt the  _Maverick_  crew.

Seeing the condition the Barbaracle was in, Gaster moved in and readied a Pokeball. Once in range, he threw it as hard as he could. The ball made contact and pulled the Pokemon inside. It fell to the ground, shook once … twice … three times … then broke open!

“Damn,” Gaster cursed.

“Let me show you how it’s done!” Axel shouted. He delivered a strong punch to the Binacle he was dealing with, stunning it just long enough to slip out of its reach, then tossed a Pokeball of his own at the Barbaracle. This time, the ball only shook twice before the Barbaracle to break free.

“Yes, nice job,” Gaster said dryly.

Before he could say anything else, the former smuggler saw another pokeball suddenly come flying out of nowhere. It hit the Barbaracle dead on, pulled it in, then flew back up to the cliff above where it had come from, right into the hand of a man in a grey and blue suit of armor not unlike Axel’s with a bright blue visor. A Blastoise stood behind him, cannons primed and ready.

“Thank you for weakening that for me,” the man said tauntingly as he placed the Pokeball onto his belt.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Gaster asked as he aimed his rifle at the man.

“An asshole who has a bad habit of showing up at the most annoying times,” Axel said angrily. It was clear that the two had met before.

“So you made another pathetic little friend, huh?” the man said. “Well, listen up, pal. The name’s Dane Lory, leader of Maelstrom, the toughest band of mercenaries this side of the Rim!”

“Can’t say I’ve heard the name before,” Gaster said, taunting this Dane Lory in return.

“That’s because he’s a coward,” Taraka said. “Get him, Fels. Use Crunch!” With a loud, screeching roar, the monk’s Aerodactyl lifted into the air and flew at Lory.

Fels Vogel was met with a jet of highly pressurized water from one of the cannons mounted on the mercenary’s arms, keeping him at bay. “Shellshock, use Water Pulse!” Lory then commanded his Blastoise. Taraka’s Aerodactyl was hit with another jet of water, forcing him down to the ground where he collapsed in a heap.

As Taraka recalled his fainted Pokemon, Gaster fired off a few shots from his rifle at Lory, but his armor seemed to be quite resistant. “Clara, use Night Shade!” he then commanded his Shuppet, hoping she would fare better. Indeed, the ghostly attack she unleashed proved to be far more effective.

“Krieg, Charge up again!” Axel shouted to his own Pokemon before firing off a burst of flames from his flamethrower at Lory. The opposing mercenary, however, proved to be quite quick, evading the incoming fire.

As Axel’s Luxio charged up electricity, Taraka sent out his Tangrowth, only for her to be blasted by a blast of ice and snow from Lory’s Blastoise. “Roma, use Giga Drain and heal yourself,” the monk responded quickly. Reaching up the cliff with her long-reaching vine arms, the Tangrowth drained away some of the Blastoise’s energy to recover her own.

“You know, I’d love to stay and chat,” Lory said as he looked down at the three members of the  _Maverick_ ’s crew and their Pokemon. “But I really need to be going now.” With that, the mercenary hopped onto his Blastoise’s back. The large turtle Pokemon then dove into the ocean and began riding the waves away, boosting away with its water cannons.

“You’re not getting away this time, you damn coward!” Axel shouted after the fleeing mercenary. He recalled his Luxio, sent his Charizard back out, then jumped on her back. “After him, Ritsu!”

As Axel and his Charizard took off in pursuit, Taraka jumped onto his Tangrowth and had her jump into the water, leaving Gaster alone on the island. “Damn it, guys,” the former smuggler grumbled to himself. After quickly capturing the sole Binacle that had been left behind, Gaster ran back to the boat. He then jumped down the cliff onto it and sped off after his crewmates.

As he closed in, Gaster could see licks of flame and jets of water flying as his crewmates squared off with Lory over the ocean. However, he also spotted a large, dark shape moving beneath the surface. When it was just below the combatants it emerged from the water. It was a Wailord, but its hide had a rough, rocky texture to it and was colored shades of brown and grey. As the Humongous aquatic Pokemon blasted out water in all directions, Axel, Lory, and Taraka all shifted their focus to the new threat.

Knowing his crewmates needed his help, Gaster released his Gloom on the bow of the boat, then pushed the motor to its limit, trying to close the distance as fast as possible. “Hydro Cannon!” the former smuggler heard Lory shout as he got near. He watched as the mercenary’s Blastoise fired a huge jet of water, which blasted Axel and Ritsu with impressive force, sending them crashing right into the Wailord. Angry, Axel’s Charizard fired back with a torrent of flames before being brought down by a shot from one of Lory’s water cannons.

Recovering quickly after falling into the ocean, Axel recalled the unconscious Ritsu and sent his Luxio out, then began swimming for the boat. As fast as he could, Gaster adjusted course toward his crewmate and eased off the throttle so as not to collide with him.

Meanwhile, Taraka was keeping his focus on the Wailord. “Roma, use Grass Knot!” the monk commanded from atop his Tangrowth, who was floating in the water. Reaching out with her long vine arms, Roma ensnared the Wailord and squeezed as hard as she could, doing a real number on it.

As the boat slowly moved into the fray, Gaster took aim at the Wailord and fired off a few shots that were simply absorbed by its rocky hide, doing little more than agitating it. Breaking free from Roma’s grasp, the Wailord dove beneath the waves to get away from its assailants. With the Wailord out of the picture for the time being, Gaster switched targets, sending a volley of shots at Lory and his Pokemon.

Because of the covering fire Gaster was providing, Axel ordered his Luxio to attack. Krieg swam up to Lory’s Blastoise, sparking off electricity, but the mercenary was more than prepared. “Use Protect!” he commanded his Pokemon. Retreating into its shell, the Blastoise kept itself safe from the attacking Luxio. Lory than fired back, blasting Krieg with a jet of water, leaving him stunned

Lory then had his Blastoise start moving toward Axel as he continued to swim for the boat. Gaster didn’t hesitate to fire off several more shots to keep his crewmate covered. “Ficus, use Stun Spore on that Blastoise!” the former smuggler ordered his Gloom as he squeezed the trigger. A spray of stunning powder from Ficus soon halted the Blastoise’s advance.

“Roma, use Giga Drain and take that thing out!” Taraka followed up with a command of his own. The monk’s Tangrowth grabbed onto Lory’s Blastoise with her vine arms and drained the last of its energy away, leaving it floating unconscious in the water.

Lory quickly recalled his Blastoise, then sent out the Barbaracle he had just captured. “Alright, let’s see what you can do,” the mercenary said. “Use Fury Cutter!” he then commanded the Pokemon, directing it after Axel. With surprising speed, the Barbaracle closed the distance between itself and its target, and slashed at Axell with its razor-sharp claws. Lory the followed up by blasting Axel’s Luxio with more water, taking it out of the fight.

Axel, for his part, handled himself quite well in the predicament he found himself in, throwing the Barbaracle off his back, then recalling his fainted Pokemon. He then quickly began swimming for the boat once more. Unfortunately for him, that’s when the Wailord chose to reemerge. It breached the surface of the waves, then spewed a massive amount of water out from its blowhole. The torrent came crashing down upon Lory, Taraka, Roma, and Axel, the last of whom was rendered unconscious.

At this point, both Gaster and Taraka jumped to action. “Roma, use Stun Spore!” the monk commanded his Tangrowth before sending out a wispy psionic flame in the Wailord’s direction. With the giant Pokemon’s attention drawn, Gaster threw caution to the wind and drove the boat right into the middle of the action so he could fish his crewmate out of the sea.

As he was pulling Axel safely aboard, Gaster felt the boat begin to shake violently. He turned to see Lory’s Barbaracle striking the boat. With his hands occupied, all the former smuggler could do was order his Pokemon to attack. “Ficus, Mega Drain!” he commanded. As the Gloom launched her attack, the Barbaracle dove down beneath the waves, avoiding the hit. At the very least, however, it was no longer attacking the boat. With a surge of strength, Gaster pulled Axel onto the boat before it came back. Without missing a beat, he then picked up his rifle again and fired off some shots at Lory, forcing him beneath the surface as well.

Gaster then turned back to Taraka and the Wailord to see the monk attempting a capture. Unfortunately, the Wailord broke out with ease. “Use Mega Drain, Roma!” the monk then ordered his Tangrowth.

“Let me help you with that!” Axel called out to his crewmate as Roma made her attack. “Ficus, use Sleep Powder!” With another blast of powder from the former smuggler’s Gloom, the Wailord was put to sleep.

Suddenly, a Pokeball came flying in, pulling the Wailord inside, but the Pokemon broke out once more. “You’re not stealing another one, you bastard,” Gaster said, aiming his rifle in the direction the ball had come from. He squeezed the trigger, spraying Lory with laser fire. This bought Taraka time to attempt another capture.

After the monk failed once again, Lory emerged in another spot and tried to swipe it from Taraka once more. Seeing the Wailord break free again seemed to convince Lory to cut his losses. “Fuck this, I’m out of here,” the mercenary said before firing both his water cannons, boosting himself away.

“You go after him!” Taraka shouted to Gaster. “I’ve got this!”

“You got it!” Gaster shouted back before pushing the throttle to max, rapidly propelling the boat after Lory. Quickly closing the gap, Gaster ordered his Pokemon to attack. “Ficus, Stun Spore!” Another spray of powder left the mercenary immobilized in the water, leaving him wide open. Taking his time, Gaster lined up the perfect shot, then squeezed the trigger.

With Lory floating defeated in the water, Gaster brought the boat in and fished him aboard. He then turned back just in time to see Taraka successfully capture the Wailord. While they now no longer had to worry about that particular Pokemon, they still had Lory’s Barbaracle to deal with. Seeing the vicious Pokemon spring out of the water to attack his crewmate, Gaster turned the boat around. However, by the time Gaster had returned to the monk, Roma had already dispatched the Barbaracle.

“That was one hell of a fight, huh?” Gaster asked as he helped Taraka back onto the boat.

“Indeed,” the monk replied with a nod. “But the day is ours.”

“Nice work with that Wailord,” Gaster said. “Now let’s get back to the ship.”

Taraka nodded. “A wise decision.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that was a fun chapter, huh? It was a fun encounter for sure. We start out with the second chunk of session 22. After the party had dealt with the Tyranitar, we still had time left, so they decided to go look for Pokemon on the ocean, the other of the two biomes on Araimia. The GM of the original campaign was actually listening in on this part of the session and in a private message he made some suggestions, such as throwing a cool rock type-shifted Wailord at them because the planet’s common type was rock, as well as having Lory show up again and try to fight them for it. I loved the idea, but we didn’t have much time left so I was like I’ll do this next session. I ended the session off with them finding a Barbaracles and a Binacle and then I had Lory show up to snipe the Barbaracle from them. I let them fight him for a round before I had him flee (as being a coward was now very much part of his character now), and left that as a teaser for the next session.
> 
> Unsurprisingly, Axel's player was ready to chase after him right then. Unfortunately, however, he wasn’t able to make it to the following session. He got held up at work and was originally planning on coming late, but then he ended up needing to stay longer than expected and had to miss the whole thing. It was still a fun encounter though. I ran Axel and his Pokemon like I usually did with Cyrus as an NPC helper and it was totally not my fault he and his Pokemon fainted. Lory ended up rolling the worst possible roll for capturing the Wailord, so at that point I had him give up and try to leave, but they ran him down, and Taraka once again got to catch a cool high level type-shifted Pokemon. There was a bit more to the session after this encounter, but it was mostly just a teaser for the following session’s events and when writing this chapter I decided it made more sense to open the next chapter with it instead. Look forward to that in the next chapter!


	30. Rescue Mission

“What the hell happened to you?” Captain Cyrus Drake asked as Taraka and Gaster walked up the cargo ramp along with the former’s Tangrowth, who was carrying the unconscious bodies of Axel and Dane Lory in her vine arms.

“This asshole,” Gaster replied, gesturing at the leader of the mercenary group known as Maelstrom. “He showed up when we were trying to capture some Pokemon and all hell broke loose.”

“So we finally bagged Dane Lory, huh?” Cyrus asked, eying the mercenary.

“Indeed, Captain,” Taraka said with a nod. “He won’t be bothering us anymore.”

“It’s a shame we don’t have the time to properly deal with this,” the Maverick’s captain continued.

“Why not?” Gaster asked, raising an eyebrow. “What happened now?” Ever since he had been picked up by the  _Maverick_ , it had seemed to the former smuggler that one thing just kept happening after another. Life certainly wasn’t boring aboard this ship.

“Something’s come up,” Cyrus replied. “Get Axel to the medbay, then report to the front of the ship and I’ll fill you in.”

“You got it,” Gasster said, nodding.

After seeing their injured crewmate to the medbay and tying up their prisoner in the cargo hold, Gaster and Taraka headed to the front of the ship. When they arrived, they found Cyrus and Anya waiting for them.

“Alright, what’s all the fuss about?” Gaster said, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“We’ve got a bit of a rescue mission on our hands,” the  _Maverick_ ’s captain explained. He then glanced over at his pilot. “Anya?”

“Right,” she replied. She nodded at Cyrus before turning to Gaster and Taraka. “Someone very important to me has been captured and I need your help to get him out. I owe him that much.”

“I see,” Gaster said. “I owe all of you for rescuing me, so returning the favor is the least I can do. Don’t worry, we’ll help you out. Just tell me who to shoot.”

“Thank you,” Anya replied, flashing a faint hint of a smile. “My friend — Jun — used to work for Markovic before betraying him to save me, and Markovic had him hunted down and captured—”

“Hold on, did you say Markovic?” Gaster interrupted, suddenly feeling anger swelling inside. Markovic was a name the former smuggler was all too familiar with.

“I take it you’ve heard the name before?” Cyrus asked.

“Of course I have,” Gaster replied forcefully. “That bastard is the reason I was stranded on Venbaxxen. If that’s who we’re going up against, I’ll gladly help you. Any enemy of Markovic is a friend of mine.”

“Wait, who is this Markovic guy, exactly?” Taraka asked.

“He’s a Romanov gangster,” Gaster explained. “He hired me to smuggle something for him, then he betrayed me and had my ship shot down.”

“Sounds like a bad dude,” Taraka said.

“That’s not even the half of what he’s capable of,” Anya said. “That’s tame by his standards.”

“So I’ve heard,” Gaster said. “I should have known working for him was a mistake.” The former smuggler let out an annoyed sigh and shook his head. “Nothing to be done about it now. What matters now is getting your friend back. Getting revenge in the process is just a bonus.”

“Well, now that we’re all on the same page, let’s get moving,” Cyrus said. “There’s no time to waste.”

“What the hell are we gonna do with that Dane Lory guy?” Gaster asked.

“Like I said, we don’t have the time to properly deal with him,” the captain replied.

“How about we just turn him in to the local authorities?” Taraka suggested. “We can tell them he assaulted us.”

“Good idea,” Cyrus said. “You two take care of that, but be quick about it. Anya, prepare the ship for takeoff. We leave as soon as they get back.”

* * *

 

Gaster gazed out the front viewport from one of the back seats in the cockpit as the  _Maverick_  dropped out of warp space at the Sector 34 warp gate. The ship had just jumped across the sector from Araimia and would soon be on its way to Sector 20 near Romanov space. As he looked out into the vacuum of space, Gaster’s attention was pulled back inside by a flashing light on the console.

“We’re picking up a distress call,” Anya said as she brought the info up on screen. “It’s only a couple systems away.”

“Is there a message?” Cyrus asked.

“No,” the pilot responded, shaking her head. “Just a repeated SOS signal.”

“You said it’s not far, right?” Gaster asked. “I say we check it out.” Having recently been rescued himself, he didn’t want to just stand by and do nothing. “It won’t take too long, and we can always bail out if it seems shady.”

“As much as I don’t want to waste any more time, you’re right,” Anya agreed. “If there’s someone in trouble, we should help them out. It could be days before anyone else comes through here.”

“Alright,” Cyrus said. “What’s one more rescue mission? Anya, set a course.”

“Already on it.”

* * *

“The scanners are picking up something,” Anya said as the  _Maverick_  flew through the system where the distress signal had originated from. “Bringing it up on screen now.” The pilot hit a button on the console, and the image of a ship flashed onto the viewscreen. “It’s a small ship, no power.”

“Can you hail them?” Gaster asked, looking on over Anya’s shoulder.

“I can try, but I doubt anyone will respond.” The pilot sent out the call, but there was no response.

“Looks like you were right,” Gaster said.

“Take us in,” Cyrus said.

“Got it, boss,” Anya replied. With a slight nudge of the controls, she steered the  _Maverick_  toward the mystery ship.

As they got close, Gaster could see the ship come into view. It was a small Alliance-make bucket that looked like it had seen better days, simply drifting along with no power. “You think anyone’s alive in there?” the former smuggler asked, looking over at his crewmates.

“Only one way to find out,” Cyrus said as he got up from his seat. “Anya, bring us in to dock. Gaster, you’re with me.”

“Right,” Gaster said, following behind his employer.

The two headed for the airlock, where they were joined by Ace and Taraka. Taking point as they headed through the airlock, Ace approached the shut door on the other side. “I don’t think I can access the door systems without power,” the android said after checking the door.

“Do you think we can power it up by shooting it with electricity?” Taraka suggested.

“Worth a shot,” Cyrus said.

“Alright then,” the monk replied before sending out his Zebstrika. “We need your help, Blitz,” he told his Pokemon. “Use Shock Wave on that door and give it a good zap.”

Heeding her trainer’s command, the Zebstrika shot off a bolt of electricity. Sparks flew everywhere as it hit, and the door slid open, revealing a dark corridor on the other side.

“Looks like nobody’s home,” Ace said as he peered through the airlock into the dark ship.

“The emergency power’s on, so there’s a chance we may find someone yet,” Cyrus said, noting the active gravity and life support systems as he stepped aboard.

“True enough,” Gaster agreed as he followed the captain. “And even if we don’t, worst case scenario, we salvage this ship for scrap.”

Moving down the corridor from the airlock with Taraka’s Zebstrika lighting the way, the  _Maverick_  crew soon arrived at a fork. A door lay dead ahead, while corridors branched off to the left and the right, each leading to another door.

“Which way sh0uld we go?” Ace asked, looking down the two corridors.

Suddenly, Gaster heard a light thud on the other side of the door right in front of them. “Definitely that way,” the former smuggler said, motioning at the door.

Moving as silently as he could, Taraka approached the door and touched the console. Nothing happened, of course, because there was no power. “You’re up again, Blitz,” the monk then said, looking back at his Zebstrika. His Pokemon fired off another bolt of electricity, but this time they weren’t as lucky. The console exploded as the sudden jolt shorted out its circuits.

“Maybe we can melt our way through,” Gaster suggested. He reached for his Quilava’s Pokeball and sent him out. “Rusty, melt your way through this door,” he commanded the Pokemon, pointing at the obstacle blocking their path. Rust began spewing out flames from his mouth, and the door slowly began to glow red hot as the metal warped and melted.

This went on for several minutes before the Quilava stopped. Rusty was clearly running out of juice and they seemed no closer to getting through. “This is going to take too long,” Cyrus said.

“I think you’re right,” Gaster said, recalling his Pokemon. “Maybe there’s something else we can—”

A sudden creaking noise cut the former smuggler off as the door began to slide open. It struggled for a moment due to its partially melted state, but it eventually managed to open.

“Hey, it looks like the fire worked,” Taraka said.

“I think it takes more than just a little fire to make a door open like that,” Cyrus said. “I think something else opened it.”

“Sure, whatever captain,” Taraka said before striding through the doorway.

Gaster looked at Cyrus and shrugged, then followed the monk inside. He scanned the room with his rifle, but it was too dark to really see anything clearly.

“Hey is there anyone alive in here?” Taraka called out.

“Yes,” a woman’s voice answered. Looking in the direction it came from, Gaster saw a young woman who looked to be in her twenties stepping out from the shadows. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun except for her bangs hanging loosely into her face, and she was garbed in a set of light tactical armor. She also had a pistol drawn, although she held it in a non-threatening way. It was clear to Gaster that she just wanted them to know she was armed. He couldn’t blame her, of course.

“Are you friendly?” the woman asked, her tone defensive, but not aggressive.

“We’re not here to kill you unless you’re going to try to kill us, I can promise you that,” Gaster answered.

“Nope, not gonna do that,” the woman replied, lowering her pistol.

Gaster nodded, then lowered his rifle. “You seem to be in a bit of trouble here.”

“I am in a bit of trouble, yeah,” the woman said. “Uh, this old ship is not working anymore. I’m a scientist, you see, but I, uh … I don’t have the budget that I used to, so the ship has gotten kinda run down and, as you can clearly see, it no longer works. Uh, I already said that, didn’t I?” She let out a nervous laugh, understandably a bit distressed by the situation. “If you’re here to help me out, then I’m glad you guys are here.”

“Well, if you’re not gonna kill us, then I don’t see why we can’t lend a hand,” Gaster said, a half-smile on his face.

“Just so we’re clear, I’m not the one who burned the door,” Taraka said.

“Technically, I didn’t burn it either,” Gaster said. “I ordered it burned, but I didn’t burn it.”

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” Cyrus said, walking into the room.

“It’s okay really,” the woman replied. “The ship was  _already_  falling apart. It’d be really cool if I could join you on your  _working ship_ , though. The power is  _really_  running low.”

“We noticed,” Gaster said as he glanced around the room once more. “So you’re the only one on this ship?” he asked, turning back to the young woman.

“Yes,” she replied with a nod. “I  _had_  a staff, but I couldn’t exactly afford to pay them anymore.”

“Well, I see no reason to leave you stranded here all alone,” the former smuggler told the woman. “I was stuck on a desert planet until these guys rescued me,” he continued, motioning at Cyrus and Taraka. “So I understand how you probably feel right about now.”

“You don’t look like a murderer, so I think we can find some room on our ship,” Cyrus said.

“Thank you  _so_  much,” the woman replied. “I’m eternally grateful. You’re welcome to salvage whatever you can from this old bucket of bolts as payment.”

“You don’t need to worry about paying us back,” Cyrus told her. “We’re always happy to help out those in need. That said, I’m not going to say no to free salvage.”

“So, do I get to know the names of my rescuers?”

“Cyrus. Captain Cyrus Drake,” the captain said, holding out his hand to the woman. “And these three are Ace, Gaster, and Taraka,” he continued, motioning at the three members of his crew with his other hand.

“Nice to meet you, Captain Drake,” she replied, giving his hand a shake.

“Just Cyrus will do,” Cyrus said, letting out a laugh. “And you are?”

“Kasey,” the woman answered. “Dr. Kasey Coulson.”

“A doctor, huh?” Gaster asked. “Aren’t you a little young?”

“I get that a lot,” Kasey said, letting out a laugh of her own. “But you really go far when you’re as smart as I am … Uh, not that I’m trying to brag about my intelligence or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cyrus said. “One of my crew likes to brag, so we’re more than used to it. Now, what do you say we get off this floating junk pile before it shuts down entirely?”

A smile appeared on Kasey’s face. “No complaints here.”

* * *

“Welcome aboard the  _UAS Maverick_ ,” Captain Cyrus Drake said as he stepped back onto his ship.

“Oh sweet, you have functioning lights,” Kasey said as she stepped aboard behind the captain. “This ship is way better than mine.”

“Heh,” Cyrus chuckled. “I think you need to raise your standards a little.”

“My ship was in disrepair long before it stopped functioning,” Kasey replied. “I forgot what it’s like to have a ship in working order.”

“Well, then I think you’ll like it here,” Cyrus said. “The  _Maverick_  is my pride and joy. We take good care of her, and she takes good care of us.”

“It is a very nice ship,” Kasey said.

“It’s a bit crowded, though,” Gaster said as he and Taraka pushed a crate full of salvaged materials through the airlock. It was loaded up with an advanced, if a bit beat up, shield core — the one component of Kasey’s ship that was still in decent condition — as well as several thousand credits worth of scrap materials the crew had managed to recover.

“It’s true,” Cyrus agreed. “We do have a bit of a full house here, but I’m sure we can find somewhere to stick you.”

“Perhaps she can bunk with Anya,” Taraka suggested. “It might be more comfortable for her to share a room with the only other woman on the ship.”

“Wait, what now?” the pilot’s voice sounded. Cyrus looked over to see Anya entering the corridor from the living quarters.

“Kasey, meet Anya, our pilot,” Cyrus said, introducing her. “Anya, this is Kasey. We picked her up from that ship. She’s going to be your roommate for a while.”

“I’d much rather have my privacy,” Anya grumbled. “But I understand. I wouldn’t want to room with these boys either.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Taraka teased.

“Nice to meet you, Anya,” Kasey said, letting out a laugh. “So is this your whole crew?” she then asked, turning back to Cyrus.

“There’s also Axel, my hired muscle, who’s currently knocked out, and Erik, our engineer, who we’ll have take a look at this fancy new shield core you’ve given us, and then there’s Ace, who you’ve already met. Ah, here he is now.” The captain motioned at the disguised android as he brought the last crate of salvage through the airlock.

“You know, I have to say that’s quite the fancy bot you’ve got there,” Kasey said. “I’d love to get a look at it.”

“Wait, what?” Gaster asked. He sounded dumbstruck, as anyone most certainly would be in his situation. The crew hadn’t yet shareed Ace’s secret with the former smuggler.

“Oh, sorry, was that supposed to be a secret?” Kasey asked.

“How did you—?”

“Robotics is my field of expertise,” Kasey explained. “I knew as soon as I got a look at your bot here.”

“Ace just isn’t any old robot,” Cyrus said, looking back and forth between Gaster and Kasey. “He’s a sentient being with real thoughts and feelings. We found him in an old ruin some months ago. I think you can understand why we’d want to keep his identity secret. They’ll be time later for us to explain everything, but we don’t have the time right now.” The captain took in a short breath, then looked right at Kasey. “We were on our way to rescue someone when we picked up your distress signal. We can’t really afford to waste anymore time.”

“I understand,” Kasey said, nodding. “If you’ll allow me, I’d like to help. It’s the least I can do to thank you for rescuing me.”

“You know how to use that, then?” Cyrus asked, eyeing the pistol holstered at Kasey’s side.

“I used to work for an Alliance paramilitary organization,” the young scientist answered. “I’ve had special forces training.”

“Well aren’t you full of surprises,” Cyrus said. “We could certainly use someone with your skills around here.”

A grin appeared on Kasey’s face. “I’d be happy to help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was a fun little chapter. The opening was the last few minutes of the previous session, which I decided to move to this chapter because I thought everything would flow better. It was mostly in the session just to tease the plot I had prepared for the following session. We rehashed it a little bit at the start of the next session because we wanted to wait for Axel's player before deciding what to do with Lory, but he ended up needing to miss another one, so I left the choice up to Taraka's and Gaster's players. So, Markovic was a Romanov gangster character I came up with that I wanted to use in the campaign as one of the many plot arcs and at some point before introducing him I decided to tie him to Anya’s backstory to give her some more depth, and then when Gaster's player joined the campaign and pitched Gaster as a character I realized it worked out perfectly for Markovic to be tied to his backstory as well.
> 
> Anyway, onto the real substance of this chapter. Aside from the opening scene, everything is from the first part of session 24. As we had lost Roland’s player and Axel’s player's schedule was becoming a bit iffier, I decided to bring on a fourth player. Kasey is played by a good friend of mine. He was just getting into tabletop at the time and wanted to join my campaign. I helped him come up with a character since he was very new to the system, and he decided to try out running a female character to get better at roleplaying. He sort of joined in last moment so I kind of had to shoehorn Kasey’s introduction into the beginning of the session as I had already set up a session plan before he joined.
> 
> As for writing this chapter, it was a bit hard to hear what was being said in a couple places. Kasey's player and I were in the same room for this session, so the audio in the recording was a bit janky. I think I did a good job of getting it down though. A funny thing happened in this session too. We introduced Ace as a robot, and that’s when I realized that while Gaster's player knew Ace was a robot out of character, Gaster had never learned that in character. So in coming back to write this chapter I had this be when he found out. It worked out nice as Kasey is a robotics expert and can build robots like Erik can. I also decided to leave this chapter as just being about Kasey’s introduction, and have the part of the session I actually planned out be its own chapter


	31. Crime Lord in the Club

The sound of Anya’s footsteps echoed in the empty corridor as she walked along. It was almost unsettlingly quiet, but it was better than staying cooped up in the small room she shared with her mother. The young Romanov girl knew Markovic’s men sometimes prowled the hallways in this part of the station, but it was a risk worth taking. As much as she hated living on this station, staying in only one small part of it was even worse.

As she continued on her way, Anya looked up at a flickering ceiling light. In the silence, she could hear clearly the faint buzzing sound it was producing. Once she had passed beneath, she looked back in front of her, only to see her path blocked. Standing in the middle of corridor, only a few feet in front of her, was Emil, the younger of Markovic’s two sons. He had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Anya felt a shiver of fear run down her spine as Emil took a step toward her. “What have we here?” he asked, breaking into that creepy smirk he always had on his face. Anya was now very much regretting sneaking out.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing here all by herself?” Emil asked, moving ever closer.

Finally, Anya managed to will her feet to move. She turned to run, but she was too late. Emil grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Where do you think you’re going?” he breathed in her ear. Anya could feel the tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. She didn’t know what to do.

“Let her go, Emil.”

Anya felt relief rush over her at the sound of Jun’s voice. She was saved.

“What do you want, Azarov?” Emil sneered, turning to face Jun.

“Your father’s looking for you,” Jun said dryly.

“Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you let her go, creep” Jun said. “She’s still a damn kid.”

“Have it your way,” Emil said. He released his grip and Anya fell against the wall and slid to the floor. Emil then turned and grabbed Jun by the arm. “It’s fortunate for you that you are my father’s best smuggler,” he sneered. “Otherwise I would kill you where you stand.”

“And it’s fortunate for you that your father runs this place,” Jun replied calmly.

Emil grunted, and released Jun. He then slinked off to go see his father.

Jun immediately ran to Anya and pulled her to her feet. “Are you alright?” he asked her.

“Mhm,” Anya managed to say, nodding her head.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No.”

“What the hell were you thinking, wandering off alone? You know how dangerous it is here. Your mother would kill me if anything happened to you.”

“I’m sorry, okay,” Anya replied. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Jun said. “Let’s go. We’re moving our timetable up.”

“What do you mean?” Anya asked.

“I’m getting you and your mother out of here tonight,” Jun said. “Markovic just assigned me a big job and there won’t be another opportunity like this for a while and it’s only a matter of time before he figures out what we’re planning. It’s now or never.”

And so it was. Over the next hour, Anya and her mother rushed to pack up their things. It was finally time to escape from Markovic’s clutches. Unfortunately, they ended up not having as much time as they hoped.

It all happened so fast that Anya barely had time to process it. Markovic’s men were on them as they were sneaking away to Jun’s ship. One moment everything was going according to plan, and the next, all hell broke loose.

“Jun, take her and go!” Anya’s mom pleaded. “Please take care of her.” And with a push, she sent them on their way.

“Mom, no!” Anya cried out as Jun dragged her away. She could only look on as her mother sacrificed herself to allow them to escape.

“Mom!” Anya cried out as she bolted upright in bed.

It was a dream.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Anya looked over to see Kasey, her new cabin-mate, sitting up in her bunk. She had a look of concern on her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Anya lied. She wasn’t one to open up, least of all to someone she had only just met.

“If you say so,” Kasey said before she laid back down. Moments later, she was asleep again.

Anya was not so lucky. She laid awake for hours before finally giving up on getting any more sleep before the  _Maverick_  dropped out of warp space. She let out a sigh and pulled out her datapad. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

“So what’s the big deal with this Markovic guy anyway?”

Gaster frowned at Axel from across the table. Having only awakened recently, the mercenary clearly had no idea what was going on at the moment. “He’s a big name Romanov gangster,” Gaster explained. “He’s got a lot of political power in the criminal underworld of the Romanov Union and the Outer Rim.”

“He’s got his hand in almost every shady market you can imagine,” Anya added. “Weapons, drugs,  _Human trafficking_.” Those last two words left the pilot’s mouth with uncharacteristic bitterness.

“Yeah, he’s a pretty bad dude,” Gaster said.

“So what?” Axel asked. “He doesn’t sound so tough.”

“It’s not about how tough he is, it’s about the clout he has in the criminal world. This is not somebody you fuck with. And not somebody you trust either. I learned that the hard way. But he pays nicely if he doesn’t decide to shoot you afterwards.”

“That’s not getting paid nicely,” Taraka spoke up. “That’s not even getting paid.”

“Well he pays most people,” Gaster replied. “I just got unlucky.”

“What happened, exactly?” Cyrus inquired.

“He hired me to transport these secret goods,” Gaster explained. “Told me to absolutely never open the package. When I delivered it, everything seemed fine. They said they were going to send the credits to my account and I foolishly believed them. As I was just breaking the planet’s orbit, they started shooting at me and my ship crashed and I spent two months living in the desert. Who knows how long I’d have been stuck there if you guys hadn’t shown up.”

“So what kind of goods were you transporting?” Axel asked.

“I don’t know,” Gaster replied. “It was a secret. Unlike Markovic, I actually upheld my end of the bargain and didn’t open his cargo. Anyway, the point is, don’t trust the guy. He may try to sweet talk you, but he’s lying through his teeth, I guarantee it.”

“You seem to have some knowledge of his operation,” Cyrus said. “Anything you can tell us that might make this rescue a little easier?”

Gaster shrugged. “I don’t know much, I’m afraid. I was just a contractor. He hired me for the one job and that was it. That was the last time I saw him.”

“That’s a shame,” the captain said. “But we’ll manage. Now, all of you, get yourselves prepared. We’ll be dropping out of warp space in a couple hours.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Gaster said with a nod. Then a grin broke out on his face. “I can’t wait to see the look on Markovic’s face when he finds out I’m not dead.”

* * *

Axel whistled to himself as he walked down the ship’s main corridor. After a nice rest he was feeling good as new. He was a bit annoyed when he first woke up to learn that he wasn’t going to be able to deal with Dane Lory himself, but he had calmed down since. It also seemed that his crewmates has once again picked up a new passenger while he was unconscious, and the fact that she was supposedly a pretty girl had certainly improved his mood.

With a spring in his step, Axel entered Erik’s workshop, where the newest member of the crew was getting her scientific equipment set up. “Hey there,” Axel said as he stepped in said and saw a young blonde woman who was, in fact, quite attractive.

“Oh, hello,” she replied, turning to face him. “You must be Axel. The others told me about you.”

“Really now?” Axel asked. “And what do they say about me?”

“Apparently you really like burning stuff,” she replied. “Here, hold this,” she then said, shoving a piece of equipment into Axel’s hands.

“That’s not inaccurate,” Axel said with a laugh as the woman began hooking some wires up to the device in his hands.

“I see,” she said without looking up. “I’m Kasey, by the way. Dr. Kasey Coulson.”

“Doctor, huh?” Axel asked.

“Just Kasey is fine,” the doctor said, standing up. “Thanks,” she said as she took the device out of the mercenary’s hands and setting it down on the table.

“No problem,” Axel said, flashing a smile.

“I’m not interested, by the way,” Kasey said.

“What?” Axel asked.

“If I’m being blunt, your flirting attempts are rather obvious, and while you do seem like a nice guy, I’m not interested.”

“Am I really that obvious?” Axel asked.

“Oh yeah,” Kasey replied, letting out a laugh. “It was nice meeting you, though.”

* * *

Gaster joined the rest of the crew at the front of the ship as the  _Maverick_  dropped out of warp space in Outer Rim Sector 20, on the border of Sector 21 and Romanov Sector 14. Out the front viewport, the former smuggler could see the space station that Markovic operated out of looming in the distance.

“This is definitely the place,” Gaster said, turning to look at Cyrus in the co-pilot’s seat.

“Pretty nice setup he’s got here,” the captain said, continuing to gaze out at the station as they approached. It was a medium sized station in orbit around a gas giant with several ships both docked and holding position nearby. Most of the ships were smaller buckets, no bigger than the  _Maverick_  itself.

“Yeah, it’s nice as far as seedy Outer Rim establishments go,” Gaster replied. “All kinds of criminals like to operate out of here, and Markovic lets ‘em, as long as he gets a cut of their profits. Beyond that, you can find any kind of scum imaginable in the club.”

“Sounds like my kind of place,” Axel said as he walked up behind them.

“Well, unfortunately for you, you’re not coming,” Cyrus said, turning back to look at the mercenary.

“What?” Axel asked. “Why?”

“This is going to be a stealthy rescue operation,” the captain explained. “You’re not exactly a stealthy person.”

“Fair point,” Axel conceded, letting out a laugh.

“The plan is simple,” Cyrus continued. “Gaster, Kacey, Taraka, and I will attempt to sneak in and rescue Jun. Ace and Axel, you two will stay here on the ship, ready to go loud and cause some mayhem if we get into a bind.”

“Sounds like fun,” Axel said, a big grin on his face.

“If everything goes according to plan, there won’t be a need for it,” Cyrus said, looking the mercenary right in the eye to make sure he understood. “Just so we’re clear.”

“You got it, boss.”

“Good. Now let’s get moving,” the captain said, getting to his feet. “Anya, bring us in.”

* * *

“Never thought I’d be back here anytime soon,” Gaster said as he stepped off the  _Maverick_.

Pausing just outside the docking tube to wait for the others, the former smuggler gazed around the room through his goggles. In this open docking hub area, Gaster saw many mercenaries, scoundrels, and other unsavory individuals milling about and loitering around the docking tubes. It looked to be pretty crowded on the station, but with his eyes covered and his face obscured by the tattered old scarf he had wrapped around his head, Gaster was confident he wouldn’t be recognized by anyone.

“Hopefully you won’t have to be here too long,” Cyrus said, stepping out behind the former smuggler. “Let’s hurry up and find Jun, then get out of here.”

“Any idea where we should start looking?” Kasey asked.

“Perhaps in a detention block or something of the sort,” Taraka suggested.

“A good place to start,” Cyrus agreed. “Does Markovic have a place like that here, Gaster?”

“Oh, most certainly,” Gaster replied. “If you cross Markovic, he likes to keep you around and make an example of you. I’m not sure exactly where he keeps his prisoners, but I know for a fact that it’s definitely not on this floor or in any of the other publicly accessible areas.” He paused to take a breath, then pointed to the far side of the room. “Elevator’s that way,” he told his crewmates. “We’ll be able to access the other floors from there.”

Cyrus nodded. “Lead the way.”

Pushing through the crowd, the group soon arrived at the elevator. Once inside, Gaster took a moment to figure out where they needed to go. “There we are, level 7,” the one time smuggler said. “That’s where we need to go.” He tapped the button and the elevator began to move.

“You’d think they’d have better security if this level isn’t supposed to be open to the public,” Cyrus mused as they descended.

“There will probably be some guards when we get down there,” Gaster replied.

“I guess we’ll find out,” the captain said. “We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

A few moments later, the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. Peering out, Gaster saw a wide corridor leading from the elevator to a bulkhead on the far side that was guarded by three men. “Follow my lead,” he said to the others as he took a step off the elevator.

“Hey!” one of the guards shouted upon seeing the new arrivals. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

“How do you know that?” Gaster asked, hoping he could bluff his way through.

“Boss would have called down if you were,” another guard said, his Romanov accent much more apparent.

“Have you checked your technology lately?” Gaster asked. “Maybe the speaker’s not working. I swear we spoke to the right guys.”

“I’m going to have to call this in,” the first guard said.

“I don’t think you have to do that,” Gaster said.

The guard frowned and reached for his radio.

“Now why would you wanna bother the guys upstairs?” Kasey pitched in, putting on a sweet face. “We’re not sure we’re even in the right place. Could you just tell us where we are, please?”

The guard sighed and let go of his radio. “This is the detention block,” he said.

“Yup, definitely the wrong place,” Kasey said, letting out a laugh. “Could you tell us how to get to where we’re going?”

“Uh, sure,” the guard said, sounding a bit annoyed. It was clear he wanted them to go away.

While Kasey had the guards distracted, Gaster subtly reached for his Cinccino’s Pokeball. He then released her right in the middle of all three guards before any of them knew what was happening. “Lulabelle, use Sing!” he commanded his Pokemon. The Cinccino let out a loud wailing sound that left all three men doubling over in pain. Seconds later, they all lay unconscious on the floor.

“Well that was easy,” Cyrus said, stepping past the unconscious guards.

“That it was,” Gaster said, recalling Lulabelle to her Pokeball before following the captain into the next room.

Moving past the bulkhead doors, the crew entered into a cell block with four cells on each side. Gaster immediately spotted one more guard, who was patrolling, keeping an eye on the prisoners. Fortunately, his back was currently turned to them.

Gaster raised his rifle, but Taraka put his hand out and pushed it back down. “I’ll handle this one,” the monk said quietly. He then quietly crept up behind the guard. With a pulse of hypnotic psionic energy, Taraka put the guard to sleep. There was an audible thud as the guard fell flat on his face.

“That works,” Gaster said, a smirk forming on his face as he slung his rifle back over his shoulder.

“Alright, let’s not waste any time,” Cyrus said, stepping further into the room. “Let’s find our man and get out of here.”

“Right,” Gaster said, nodding. As he moved up to join Taraka and the captain, the former smuggler took in his surroundings. The narrow corridor of the cell block was lined with four cells on each side, but only half of them were occupied.

Gaster and his crewmates checked each of the cells, but none of them matched the description of Jun Azarov, the man they had come to rescue. One man was asleep, two more looked up at the newcomers with curiosity, and a third stood up and walked right up to the bars.

“I’ll pay you one-hundred credits if you let me out of here,” the brutish-looking man said. Looking him over, Gaster figured that he was just a low-level thug.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Taraka said, walking up beside Gaster.

“Ah, fuck you,” the thug spat back.

“Yeah, we’re definitely not letting you out,” the monk replied.

“Quit making friends over there,” Cyrus suddenly interrupted. “We need to hurry up before someone finds us here.”

“I don’t think he’s here,” Kasey chimed in. Gaster looked over to see the newest member of the crew crouched over the unconscious guard with a datapad in her hands. “This guy’s datapad says they brought a Jun Azarov up to see Markovic.”

“Looks like we’re gonna have to break into Markovic’s private lounge,” Cyrus says. “This might get a bit dangerous after all.”

“We’re going to anyway,” Taraka said, flashing a confident smile. “We can handle a little danger.”

Cyrus nodded. “That we can,” the captain said. “But first, let’s do something about these guards before they wake up.”

“We have four guards and four empty cells,” Kasey said. “Let’s take their radios and lock them up so they can’t call for help when they wake up.”

“I like the way you think,” Cyrus said in agreement. “Let’s round ‘em up.”

* * *

Gaster could feel the aggressive pulse of the music as he stepped into the club with his crewmates. The place looked exactly the same as the last time he had been here, complete with all the familiar trappings of a seedy Outer Rim club that he was all too familiar with. Everywhere he looked, the former smuggler could see thuggish men and other shady characters, scantily clad exotic dancers, and, of course, armed guards. Markovic was a big fan of those.

Looking up from the crowded dance floor and bar area, Gaster scanned the upper balcony level. “That’s where we need to go,” he told the others, pointing up to the balcony. “Markovic’s private lounge is up there. Unfortunately, you need a special pass to access it.”

“So what’s our play here?” Cyrus asked. “Without a pass the only option is fighting our way in, but I don’t like our odds with all these guards around.”

“Neither do I,” Gaster said, shaking his head and letting out a slight laugh. “I think I’ll hit the bar and get a lay of the land.”

“Good idea,” Cyrus said, nodding. “Kasey, go with him. Taraka, let’s you and I take a walk around and see if there’s a way we can sneak in.”

“You got it, Captain,” Taraka agreed.

“Watch your back, you two,” Gaster said as the two began to walk off.

“Likewise,” Cyrus replied before he and Taraka disappeared into the crowd.

Once they were out of sight, Gaster turned back to Kasey. “Let’s hit the bar, shall we?”

Kasey nodded, and the two made their way to the bar. “What drink you want?” the bartender asked as they approached, his thick Romanov accent quite apparent.

“Something strong,” Gaster said before turning to Kasey. “You want anything?” he asked her.

“I don’t have any credits left,” she replied.

“I got this, don’t worry about it,” Gaster told her.

“Well in that case, I think I could use a strong drink as well.”

“Alright then, two strong drinks coming up,” the bartender said. “Let’s see if you can handle true Romanov vodka.”

As they sipped their drinks, the two surveyed the room from the bar and started coming up with a plan. “We can get up to the lower balcony no problem,” Gaster explained, motioning toward the stairs. “It’s getting to the upper balcony that’s going to be difficult unless we can get our hands on a VIP pass.”

“Can’t we steal one?” Kasey asked. “I think I can nab one off someone without them noticing.”

“You sure you can do it without getting noticed?” Gaster asked.

“If not, I can just play it off like I bumped into them,” Kasey said with a shrug. “I don’t think any of the people here would mind, if I’m being honest. I’ve been getting looks ever since I stepped into this place.”

“True,” Gaster said, nodding in agreement. “Well if you think you can do it, then go for it. I’ll be here to watch your back if something goes down.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Kasey said. “There’s a guy leaving now.” She quickly downed the rest of her drink, then slipped into the crowd, laser-focused on the man who had just left the upper balcony.

Gaster followed a short ways behind his new crewmate, keeping an eye out for trouble. He stayed in the crowd and watched Kasey intercept the man at the stairs, then pretend to bump into him from behind. Kasey then braced herself against the man with one hand while she picked his pocket with the other, swiping his pass before he had a moment to react.

“Oy! Watch where you’re going!” the man shouted as he turned around.

“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry!” Kasey responded, putting on an innocent face and pretending to apologize profusely.

The gruff man’s expression of anger faded as soon as he realized who had bumped into him. “No problem, sweet thing,” he said. He clearly didn’t mind a pretty girl bumping into him. “Let me buy you a drink.”

“No thanks!” Kasey said before slipping back into the crowd before the man could respond.

 _Man, she’s good_ , Gaster thought. For a scientist, Kasey sure seemed to have a lot of unexpected skills. She definitely knew how to handle herself in a place like this. Gaster smirked as he gave the baffled man one last look before following after Kasey.

“Nice work back there,” Gaster said once he caught up with her. “I’m impressed.”

“Thanks,” Kasey said, flashing a smile. “I learned a few tricks in my time with Helios.”

“Helios?” Gaster asked. “That name sounds familiar.”

“I imagine it would,” Kasey replied. “The Helios Corporation is only one of the largest private military corporations and weapons manufacturers in the Alliance.”

“So  _that’s_  who you used to work for,” Gaster said.

“Yeah …” Kasey said, trailing off a bit. “I’m not about that life anymore, though. Let’s just say some of the crap they were doing was getting a bit too sketchy for my liking, so I got out. I do miss the funding though.”

“Ha,” Gaster laughed. “I can imagine.”

“You two have any luck?” Cyrus suddenly interrupted, appearing out of the crowd with Taraka. “This place is way more secure than I expected.”

“Oh, did we,” Kasey said, flashing the VIP pass she had stolen, a proud smirk on her face.

“Great,” the captain said. “Nice job. Now let’s just hope they let us in.”

“Only one way to find out,” Gaster said. “Let’s go.”

Gaster held his breath as he approached the guard blocking the stairs to the upper balcony with his crewmates. He had a good feeling about their chances of getting through, but he couldn’t help being a little tense. The former smuggler kept a hand close to his Pokeballs just in case things went south.

“You got passes?” the guard asked, stopping the crew at the landing.

“Right here,” Kasey said, handing the man the stolen pass.

He took a quick look and handed it back. “What about the rest of you?” he then asked, glancing at the others.

“They’re with me,” Kasey said, putting on that same smile from before.

The guard looked them over for a minute, then glanced back at Kasey. Gaster gripped his Quilava’s Pokeball tightly as he waited for the guard to react. Turning back to the rest of the crew once more, the guard gave them one last once over, then nodded and waved them in.

“That went well,” Cyrus said as they reached the top of the stairs. “Where to next?” he then asked, turning to Gaster.

“Now we find Markovic,” Gaster replied, scanning the room.

The private lounge was much less crowded than the lower levels, but there were still quite a few people up here as well. The private booths were occupied by shady men drinking and making deals, and many more unscrupulous-looking individuals crowded the stage, watching the dancers. To the left of the stairs, a large panoramic window provided a fantastic view of the gas giant the station orbited, and on the far side of the room was Markovic’s private glass-walled office.

“And there he is,” Gaster said, pointing out the Romanov gangster through the glass.

Markovic was standing over a man tied to a chair who had to be Jun Azarov. By the look on his face, Markovic seemed quite angry. Gaster didn’t know exactly what Anya’s friend had done to piss the gangster off to such a degree, but he knew that Markovic was dangerous when angry. They needed to act fast. Unfortunately, a guard armed with a rifle was blocking the entrance to Markovic’s office, and two more were stood behind the chair Azarov was tied to.

“I think we could use a good distraction right about now,” Cyrus commented.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea,” Gaster said confidently. It was time to throw caution to the wind. Without waiting for the others to respond, Gaster walked right up to the glass wall and knocked on it.

This immediately drew Markovic’s attention, who looked up from his prisoner to see who was knocking on his wall. Gaster then removed the cloth covering his face, revealing his identity to his former employer. A look of recognition appeared on the Romanov Gangster’s face, but it soon turned to a look of confusion, and then anger.

“Jameson?!” Gaster heard Markovic shout through the glass. “How?!” The gangster then looked at his men and barked orders at them in Romanov.

The three guards began to move in on Gaster, weapons drawn, but a psionic barrier suddenly appeared between them and their target. Gaster looked over to see Taraka running in to assist, his Togekiss flying beside him. Taking advantage of the situation, Gaster moved back from the guards and sent out his Quilava.

“Rusty, use Smokescreen!” Gaster commanded his Pokemon as he emerged from his ball. The former smuggler was soon obscured from the guard’s sight by a thick black smoke, but thanks to his cybernetic eyes, he could see them just fine.

“Sirius, use Metronome!” Taraka ordered his Togekiss as Gaster reached for his rifle. The monk’s Pokemon then began to glow as she started storing up energy.

Meanwhile, gunfire began to fly across the room as Cyrus, Kacey, and Markovic’s men all opened fire. As they moved up to assist Gaster and Taraka, both Cyrus and Kasey released Pokemon of their own. As usual, the  _Maverick_ ’s sent out his trusty Talonflame, while the newest member of the ship’s crew sent out a Tyrunt.

“Flame Charge!”

“Ancient Power!”

The two Pokemon unleashed their attacks, launching one of Markovic’s grunts backwards into the glass wall behind him, leaving behind a large spider web pattern of cracks. The unsuspecting mercenary let out a pained moan as he slid to the ground.

Taraka, meanwhile, threw up another psionic barrier, then ordered his Togekiss to attack. “Sirius, use Fairy Wind!” he commanded, directing his Pokemon after the pistol-wielding mercenary that was still standing. Thanks to the stored up energy Sirius had been building, her attack did a real number on the man.

As the grunt stumbled backwards, Gaster lined up a shot and finished him off with a well placed shot. He then quickly shifted his aim and fired off some shots at the sole remaining guard, landing a few grazing hits. “Now Rusty, Ember!” he shouted to his Quilava. Rusty began glowing white hot as he prepared to unleash his fire, and his form started changing and growing larger. Now a Typhlosion, Rusty let loose a surge of flames at the guard, burning through his armor.

“Dragon Claw!” Kasey then ordered her Tyrunt. The small but strong Pokemon lashed out with her sharp claws, sending the guard stumbling back. A direct shot to the head from the captain then sent him to the floor. The fact the man was wearing a helmet was the only reason he survived.

“Quick!” Cyrus then shouted. “Grab our guy so we can get out of here before more guards show up!”

“Right!” Gaster said before rushing into Markovic’s office.

Markovic stood waiting for his former employee, his pistol pointed right at him. “Not so fast,” the gangster said.

“Nice to see you again,” Gaster said bitterly as he aimed his rifle back at Markovic.

“You should be dead,” the Romanov said, narrowing his eyes.

“Looks like you screwed up there,” Gaster retorted. “Now, we’re just gonna take our little buddy here and go, if you don’t mind,” he continued as he reached out to grab Azarov. “We’ll be back for you later.”

“I don’t think so,” Markovic replied, taking a step forward.

“Oh? What are you gonna do?” Gasster taunted.

In response, Markovic pulled the trigger, and let loose a laser blast. The shot simply impacted the psionic barrier Taraka had created and dissipated into an explosion of purple sparks. “What?!” Markovic called out in surprise, a look of shock on his face.

Gaster stared back at the Romanov gangster and brushed his coat off, a cheeky grin on his face. “You wanna try that again?” he asked.

While Markovic was still making sense of what had just happened, Gaster cut Azarov free and pulled him to his feet. “Come on, let’s go.” While it was clear Azarov had no idea what was going on, he allowed Gaster to lead him to the door.

Markovic began firing shots off after them, but Cyrus and Kasey returned fire, driving the gangster back into cover. “Go!” the captain shouted. “We’ve got you covered!”

With their backs protected, Gaster and Taraka led Azarov to the stairs. As they began to descend, a few guards climbed the stairs to meet them. With a swing of his staff, Taraka drove the guards back, opening up a gap to slip through. As they moved down to the lower level, it became clear that the music was so loud that the firefight upstairs hadn’t been heard. Using that to their advantage, the trio managed to slip into the crowd and escape.

With Azarov in tow, Gaster and Taraka stepped out into the main docking hub. They were soon joined by Cyrus and Kasey, who hurried them along. “Go! Go! They’re right behind us!” the captain shouted. The crew then took off running as Markovic’s men emerged from the club. They opened fire, but Taraka’s barrier kept the crew safe.

“We’re coming in hot!” Cyrus radioed to the ship as they ran. “Get that docking tube covered and make sure the ship is ready to fly!” He then turned and fired a few shots at their pursuers.

As they ran into the docking tube, Kasey hacked into the controls, sealing it shut behind them. “That should hold them for a little while,” she said.

“Nice work, now let’s get moving,” Cyrus said. Without wasting a moment, they all ran aboard the  _Maverick_. “Anya, get us out of here!” the captain yelled as they passed by Ace and Axel at the airlock.

The ship lurched as it disconnected from the docking tube at a higher-than-recommended speed. There was another rumble from the unmistakable impact of laser fire, then came the familiar jolt as the Maverick jumped to warp space.

Then all was still. They had made it.

* * *

“You idiots!” Markovic bellowed as he smashed his fist against his desk. The gangster’s men looked on in silence, none daring to say anything and further enrage their boss.

After several moments, one finally found the courage to speak. “Boss—”

“Shut up!” Markovic interrupted. “All of you get out!”

Markovic’s men didn’t need to be told twice, quickly filing out of the room, leaving their boss alone with his two sons.

“Emil, tell me about the ship that rescued Azarov,” Markovic said.

“It’s called the  _UAS Maverick_ ,” Markovic’s younger son said. “That’s all we know.”

“Well, find out more,” Markovic said. “Find out what they want with Azarov and how Jameson is involved.”

“Yes, father,” Emil said before taking his leave.

“Luka,” Markovic then said, turning to his elder son.

“Yes father?”

“Put the word out that I’m placing a bounty on Gaster Jameson’s head. I want that bastard dead.”

“Right away,” Luka replied.

“Good. Tell them whoever brings me his head will get two-hundred-thousand credits.”

“Two-hundred-thousand?”

“Did I stutter?”

“Of course not, father. Two-hundred-thousand credits. And what of the others he’s traveling with?”

“Kill them, or don’t. It doesn’t matter as long as Jameson dies.”

As his son departed, Markovic gazed out at the stars. Gaster Jameson was supposed to be dead, and yet he had walked right up to his office and swept his prisoner away. He had made a mistake coming back, and now he would pay with his life.

Gaster Jameson was dead man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, this took me ages to write. I needed to take a whole two extra weeks to finish this one. A lot of this chapter was just really challenging to write, and I’m glad it’s finally done. So this chapter covers the rest of session 24 and was the real meat of the session. Combined with adding in several additional scenes, it made the chapter rather long, but it all needed to be there.
> 
> The opening scene is our first scene from Anya’s point of view and we finally get a look into her past. It’s something I didn’t go into too much detail with during the sessions because as a GM I wasn’t as confident in my storytelling at the time, but I really wanted to flesh it out for the write-ups. This flashback/dream scene really puts who Jun is and why they’re rescuing him in a better context for the reader than the brief explanation I gave as a GM to my players.
> 
> The next scene was synthesised from player discussion as Gaster's player revealed a bit of the history his character had with Markovic that I had provided him to the others, and I thought it would be a good idea to insert Axel even though his player was absent just as a means of conveying some information about Markovic to the readers. Plus it’s weird having him unconscious for multiple days from an injury that’s not that bad. Then I added a interaction between Axel and Kasey because their first real interaction in the game was sessions from now as their players kept not being there at the same time. It made more sense to have their first interaction be shortly after Axel woke up. I did have to make it up from scratch as I lost the recording for the first session they were both in attendance for unfortunately. I think it turned out nicely. And then to explain why Axel didn’t go on the mission, I came up with a reason for him to stay on the ship.
> 
> And then it was on to the exciting part of the session. They did a good job of putting things to sleep and avoiding fights. And we get to see Kasey making good use of her charm and guile skills to get through some situations and get the party up to Markovic. The fight with Markovic’s men ended up being a bit easier than I had anticipated, but it ended up being a fun short combat encounter and the whole session still felt paced really well.
> 
> To wrap up, I added one more scene from the villain’s point of view, just to set the tone and add some suspense. So yeah, Gaster’s got a bounty on his head now! What will happen next?


	32. Creatures of the Canopy Caverns!

Calmness permeated the  _UAS Maverick_  now that the ship was safe in warp space. After making sure the autopilot was set for when the ship reached its destination, Anya got up from her seat and exited the cockpit. As she made her way through the comms room to the living quarters, the young Romanov pilot could hear a voice she had not head in several years speaking with those of her  _Maverick_  crewmates.

“I appreciate the rescue,” Jun was saying as Anya stepped into the room. He had a few cuts and bruises, but other than that he still looked just how she remembered him, dark hair buzzed short and closely trimmed facial hair. “But, uh, who are you people?” he asked.

“Friends of a friend,” Cyrus replied, nodding in Anya’s direction.

As Jun turned to look at her, Anya saw a surprised look of recognition appear on his face. “Anya, is that you? What are you doing here?”

“Saving your butt, that’s what,” Anya replied, a smile appearing on her face. “It’s only fair after you saved mine,” she continued before running to her one-time rescuer and pulling him into a hug. She was glad to see he was unharmed.

“I came as soon as I heard,” Anya said, breaking off the hug and taking a step back.

“I guess that makes us even now,” Jun said, letting out a slight laugh. “Who would’ve thought you’d be the one saving my life? You’ve certainly grown up since the last time I saw you.”

“Well it’s  _only_  been four years,” Anya replied sarcastically. “Would it have hurt you to call once in a while?”

“I am sorry about that,” Jun said. “You know how this life can be.”

“Is that  _really_  the only reason?” Anya asked, folding her arms.

“I truly am sorry, Anya,” Jun answered. “I really am glad to see you, though. Without the help of your friends here, I’d be a dead man.”

“I’m glad to see you too,” Anya said, pulling Jun into another hug.

* * *

Gaster gazed out the viewport in the  _Maverick_ ’s main living quarters as the ship approached Nocturne, a small forested planet in Sector 34. It was a somewhat out of the way colony with a handful of settlements that was little more than a refueling stop on most people’s radars. That fact, coupled with the dense forests, made it an ideal hideaway for those who did not want to be found. People like Jun Azarov.

The ship’s newest passenger was actually the reason the  _Maverick_  had come here. Azarov had apparently joined up with a small band of mercs with hearts of gold that operated out of Nocturne, and the crew had been kind enough to give him a lift back here. Gaster didn’t particularly mind the detour, though. After being stranded on Venbaxxen for so long, he certainly wasn’t opposed to a little downtime on a far more hospitable planet.

As the  _Maverick_  broke through Nocturne’s atmosphere, Gaster was greeted with a breathtaking view of the planet’s lush tree top canopy. As the ship soared over the sea of leaves below, the former smuggler caught sight of the small spaceport settlement they were going to land at, hidden away amongst the trees.

“What a lovely planet,” Gaster heard Taraka’s voice behind him. He glanced over to see the monk approaching. “I imagine we can find some neat Pokemon here.”

“I’m sure we can,” Gaster said nodding. “I’m definitely up for searching for some. I could certainly use the fresh air.”

“Most of the others are still asleep, so it will just be the two of us,” Taraka said.

“Fine with me,” Gaster said.

Once the ship had touched down, Gaster and Taraka headed for the cargo hold. “See ya, Captain,” Taraka said as they passed by Cyrus near the cargo ramp on their way out.

“Where are you two headed?” the captain inquired.

“Just to explore a bit,” Gaster said. “And maybe find some Pokemon while we’re at it. We’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Sounds good,” Cyrus said, nodding. “Happy hunting.”

* * *

The light was getting quite dim and Gaster and Taraka walked deeper and deeper into the forest. It was far from nighttime, but the bright midday sun was barely able to break through to the forest floor. Despite the lack of sunlight, it was still quite warm, and the humidity was just shy of uncomfortable.

“I’ve never seen such a dense forest before,” Gaster heard Taraka say as they continued forward. He turned back to see the monk looking up at the canopy of leaves above. “It’s so dark here,” Taraka continued.

“No kidding,” Gaster said, letting out a slight laugh as he too gazed upwards. It was indeed dark. The layers of lush boughs and branches above had all but blocked the sun entirely. It was almost as if they were in a cave made of trees. “I wish my cybernetics allowed me to see in this darkness,” Gaster continued after a moment. “Sadly, I didn’t get that upgrade.”

“Perhaps a fire Pokemon will help light our way,” Taraka said, shifting his gaze from the canopy above to his crewmate.

“Good idea,” Gaster agreed with a nod. “It’s a good thing I brought one along.” He reached for one of his Pokeballs and sent out the Zubat he had captured when he and Taraka were exploring that volcano not too long ago.

As soon as the Zubat emerged, the area around the two companions was illuminated by the glow emanating from her body. “Keep close and give us some light, Morgana,” Gaster instructed his Pokemon, who obediently followed along as they continued on their way.

As Gaster and Taraka proceeded forward along the trail they had followed from the spaceport, the trees grew closer together and the underbrush grew more dense. Eventually the trail faded away as they got further and further away from the spaceport, swallowed up by the brush. The average explorer may have turned back at this point, but Gaster was confident in his survival and tracking skills and he and Taraka decided to press on in hope of finding some Pokemon.

It was the Pokemon, however, that found them. After the pair had gotten pretty far from the trail, Gaster began to hear a rustling in the bushes. “Hold up,” the former smuggler said, stopping in his tracks. “Do you hear that?” he asked, turning to Taraka as he readied his rifle.

“I do,” Taraka said. The monk reached for a Pokeball, and sent out his Togekiss.

Seconds later, a pack of three Mightyenas emerged from the bushes, circling around the two companions and their Pokemon. Taraka barely had time to throw up a psionic barrier to protect them before the large alpha leapt forward, smashing into Gaster’s Zubat and shoving her to the ground.

“Sirius, use Fairy Wind!” Taraka quickly commanded his Pokemon. The monk’s Togekiss unleashed her attack, driving the alpha back and opening up a window for Gaster to get off some shots. He quickly fired off a volley at each of the three Mightyenas in rapid succession, but he was unable to land a hit.

“Morgana, hit the big one with Confuse Ray!” Gaster then commanded his own Pokemon. Now back in the air, the Zubat sent a beam of energy at the leader of the pack, momentarily stunning it.

One of the others let out a howl and circled around the flank them while the third leapt up at Taraka, gnashing its teeth menacingly. The monk quickly pulled away just before the Pokemon could bite down on his arm, then countered with a psionic flame, burning his assailant. The alpha, meanwhile, snapped out of its dazed state and attempted to catch Morgana in its jaws. Fortunately, the Zubat was able to fly up and out of harm’s way.

Gaster then fired off another shot, hitting the alpha dead on and bringing it down. “Morgana, take care of the one moving behind us! Use Leech Life!” Gaster then ordered his Zubat. With the alpha no longer nipping at her, Morgana flew overhead, then dove down to attack.

All the while, Taraka and his Pokemon were keeping the other Mightyena busy. Another Fairy Wind attack did a real number on it, and thoroughly pissed it off. The Mightyena lunged at Sirius, but Taraka knocked it down to the ground with his staff. For a moment, it struggled to get to its feet before succumbing to its burns.

That just left one more Mightyena to deal with. As it continued to try and get at his Zubat, Gaster fired off another volley of shots, landing a few hits on it. “Morgana, Confuse Ray! He then ordered.

“Sirius, use Yawn!” Taraka followed up with an order of his own.

The two pokemon unleashed their attacks, leaving the Mightyena dazed and drowsy. Gaster threw a Pokeball before it got a chance to react, but it broke out almost immediately. The Mightyena let out a low growl, then lunged forward, but in its dazed state it collapsed to the ground and passed out. As it slept, Gaster pulled out another ball and threw it. This time, he was successful, and the ball fell still on the ground.

“Nice,” Gaster said as he claimed his prize. “Good work, Morgana,” he continued. He looked over at his Zubat to see her glow beginning to intensify. Her form grew in size, and when the glow died back down to its previous brightness, Gaster was looking at a Golbat.

“This is proving to be quite the successful venture for you,” Taraka said, looking up at the Golbat.

“Yeah,” Gaster agreed. “But let’s see if we can find a Pokemon for you to catch before we head back.”

The monk nodded. “I agree.”

* * *

“I wonder how deep these woods go,” Taraka mused as he and Gaster paused for a rest. It had been quite some time since they had fought off the pack of Mightyena, and they have progressed further into the forest. It seemed now as if they were in the deepest darkest part of the forest. The light of Gaster’s fiery Golbat was the only source of light now.

“Very,” Gaster replied. “I don’t think we should go any further. We can look for more Pokemon on the way out.”

“A good idea, I think,” Taraka said, taking another look around.

That’s when the monk saw it. Just behind his crewmate, Taraka spotted the form of some creature creeping down the trunk of a tree. “Look out!” Taraka shouted as the Pokemon leapt at Gaster. Taraka hastily threw up a psionic barrier as Gaster turned to look behind him. The shield managed absorb the brunt of the impact, but Gaster was still caught unawares and knocked to the ground.

Now that the Pokemon was out in the open, Taraka could see it for what it was. Their assailant was a Sceptile, but one that appeared specially adapted to this low light environment. It was a dark blueish-green shade, and its eyes were a deep crimson shade. The leaf blades on its arms also looked extra sharp.

Wishing to drive the Pokemon back from his crewmate, Taraka sent a psionic flame its direction. The Sceptile jumped back, avoiding the orb of flame, then scraped its blades against each other, as if sharpening them.

“Let’s not have any of that,” Taraka said. “Sirius, use Charm!” The monk’s Togekiss swooped in, but only managed to succeed at distracting the Sceptile. At the very least, she bought Gaster some more time to get back on his feet.

Once he was standing again, Gaster switched out to his Cinccino and ordered her to attack. “Lulabelle, use Thunder Wave! Try to immobilize it!” His Pokemon shot out a bolt of electricity that left the Sceptile stunned for a moment. Fighting through as sparks ran along its body, the Sceptile lunged at Lulabelle, slashing through the remnants of Taraka’s protective barrier with its razor-sharp blades.

“Now, Encore!” the former smuggler issued another command. Lulabelle did her thing, leaving the Sceptile dazed. However, the success was short-lived. Snapping back to alertness, the vicious reptile darted between Gaster and his Pokemon, slashing at both of them with its blades. The attack sent Gaster to the ground, unconscious, but his Cinccino had hung in there. Lulabelle quickly darted away, then let loose a Swift attack. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to do much.

 _This is not good_ , Taraka thought.  _I need to do something_. Thinking quickly, Taraka recalled his Togekiss and sent out his Beartic. “Arctos, Play Nice!” the monk commanded. Rushing the Sceptile, the Beartic pinned it beneath his massive weight, subduing it. Struggling to break free, the Sceptile swiped at Arctos with its blades, landing a couple good hits.

Taraka slowly crept up, hoping to attempt a capture while the Sceptile was pinned, but, with a burst of strength, the Sceptile shoved Arctos off. It then dealt a nasty gash to the Beartic before retreating back. “Arctos, Icy Wind!” Taraka ordered before shooting out another psionic flame. The Sceptile, however, adeptly maneuvered between the attacks, avoiding both. It then circled around and struck Arctos again, bringing him down. It then shifted focus to Gaster’s Cinccino. With another strike, she was brought down.

“Not good,” Taraka said as the Sceptile turned to face him. He recalled his fainted Beartic, then ran to Gaster’s side. The monk grabbed the first Pokeball on his crewmate’s person that he could find, and released its inhabitant. That turned out to be Krokorok. It certainly wasn’t the best choice, but Taraka didn’t have time to pick something else. He then tossed out a Pokemon of his own, releasing his Ponyta behind the Sceptile.

The Sceptile went for Gaster’s Krokorok, delivering a powerful blow that almost took him down immediately. Snarling back at the Sceptile, the Krokorok sank his teeth in, taking a nasty bite out of it. The Sceptile shook the Krokorok off, then swiped at Taraka’s Ponyta. That proved to be a mistake. While it delivered a nasty blow to Blaze, the Sceptile was paid in kind with a burn. The Sceptile then turned back to Gaster’s Krokorok and attempted to strike it again. Jimothy, however, managed to dodge out of the way, then threw some sand in its eyes leaving it blinded.

Taraka quickly seized upon the opportunity and revived Gaster. “Blaze, use Ember!” he commanded as he nursed his crewmate back to consciousness.

With its eyes blinded, the Sceptile was unable to avoid the rush of flames. A horrible sound escaped its mouth as the tongues of fire seared its scaly body. It began flailing around violently, and eventually managed to land a hit on Gaster’s Krokorok, bringing him down.

“Ember again!” Taraka ordered. With another burst of fire, the Sceptile was really starting to feel it now. Taraka attempted a capture, but the Sceptile broke free.

“It’s not weak enough yet,” Gaster grunted. He recalled his two fainted Pokemon, then sent out his Gloom. “Ficus, use Sweet Scent.” The Gloom let out a strong fragrance that distracted the Sceptile, causing it to collapse from the paralyzing effects of Lulabelle’s earlier Thunder Wave attack.

Before the Sceptile could get up, Taraka put it to sleep with his psionic abilities. The monk then followed up with another Pokeball. This time, the capture was a success! Taraka breathed out a sigh of relief. That had not been an easy fight.

“That thing was a real piece of work,” Gaster chuckled between grunts of pain. “I’m glad it’s on our side now.”

“As am I,” Taraka said, nodding. “Now, let’s get you back to the ship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title: The Pokemon Hunting Adventures of Gaster and Taraka, Part 3. This was a fun little session. Axel's player missed again, as did Kasey's player, so it was just Taraka's and Gaster's players again. I added an extra player and still ended up with a two player session! So yeah, I just generated a random planet and they went hunting for Pokemon. For the sake of narrative, I had it be the planet they were going to drop Jun off. I added some expansion in the chapter, including a brief scene explaining why they went to the planet and just some extra dialogue, plus a scene to pick up right after the end of the previous chapter’s events just to tie that plot point up a bit and give a little glimpse into the backstory of Anya and Jun. I’m actually pretty proud of that opening scene. I feel like I did a real solid job of giving some details about the history of these two characters through dialogue without anything seeming forced or too explainy. I did consider adding one other scene with them, but decided to leave it for the start of next chapter for the sake of this one not ending up too long, plus I wanted to just get this one done and posted. As for the planet itself, I got forest and forest for the biomes and dark for the common Pokemon, so I came up with this idea for a planet with dense forests with a canopy so thick that it’s like a cave of trees. I saw the name Nocturne when using a planet name generator while writing and I thought it was an appropriate name for a dark type planet. In the initial part of the session they didn’t roll too well so I just threw some Mightyenas at them, but then they went deeper in and searched again and Taraka's player rolled a 1. The GM of the original campaign was listening in on this session and when that happened he messaged me suggesting a dark type shifted Sceptile, so that’s what I made. It hilariously messed them up worse than Markovic’s men in the previous session, but they caught it in the end. And that was it. A fun little session while waiting to have more players for the next plot hook I wanted to throw at the party. Look forward to that next chapter!


	33. The Lady in Red

“Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay?” Anya asked as she stood with Jun at the end of the cargo ramp.

“These are good people, Anya,” Jun replied, referring to the band of mercenaries he had joined up with. “I need to do my part to help them out. They’re counting on me, just like your friends are counting on you.”

Anya let out a sigh. “I know. It’s just … I don’t want you to go. The last time you left, it took four years and you getting captured for me to see you again.”

Jun smiled and put his hand on Anya’s shoulder. “This time you’ll know where to find me. If you ever need anything … anything at all, just say the word and I’ll be there.”

“You’d better mean that,” Anya said, playfully punching Jun. “Don’t you go disappearing on me again.”

“Of course I mean it. Things are different now than they were then.”

“Yes, they are,” Anya said, grabbing onto Jun’s hand. “So you come back to me, alright?”

“I promise,” Jun said, wrapping his fingers around hers.

“Now go on, get out of here before I change my mind about letting you go.” With that, Anya leaned in a planted a kiss on Jun’s cheek. She then stepped back and released her grip, allowing Jun to depart.

After taking a few steps away from the  _Maverick_ , Jun stopped and looked back, giving Anya one last glance. “You really  _have_  grown up.” He then turned and continued on his way, waving his hand in goodbye as he set out across the spaceport.

* * *

 

By the time Gaster and Taraka arrived back at the ship, the throbbing pain caused by the injuries inflicted by the Sceptile in the forest that Gaster was feeling had begun to subside a bit. He definitely still needed some medical attention, but he had patched himself up well enough such that he  _almost_  didn’t notice the pain anymore.

As they walked up the cargo ramp, Gaster spotted Cyrus pacing around the cargo hold on a call with someone via his Pokedex. He seemed to have seen them as well, as he waved them over.

“Thanks again for the heads up, Gordon,” Gaster heard the captain say as he and Taraka approached. “Keep me posted if you hear anything else. Right. Will do. Talk to you soon.”

“What was that about?” Gaster inquired once Cyrus had hung up.

“Nothing good, I’m afraid,” the captain answered. “That was an old bounty hunter friend of mine. It sounds like Markovic wasn’t too thrilled with our little rescue the other day, nor was he happy to learn that you’re still alive.”

“I didn’t think he would be,” Gaster said.

“Well it seems like he really wants you to return to being dead,” Cyrus said. “He’s placed quite the bounty on your head.”

“Oh really now?” Gaster asked, instinctively reaching for his rifle.

“Don’t worry, we’re not planning on turning you over to Markovic,” Cyrus said, clearly noticing Gaster’s reaction. “And we’ll keep you safe if anyone comes to claim your bounty.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Gaster said, allowing himself to relax. “But if you’re not planning on claiming the bounty yourself, I would really like to get off this planet in case someone else is.”

“If they are, I doubt they’re on Nocturne,” Cyrus said. “This is a pretty safe world … for the Outer Rim, that is.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Gaster said. “We probably won’t see much trouble here.”

“Whatever secret cargo you were transporting must be important if Markovic wants you dead so bad,” Cyrus then said after a moment of silence.

“What makes you say that?” Gaster asked.

“Why else would he have put a two-hundred-thousand credit bounty on you?” the captain asked in response. “That’s an absurd amount of money for just one random guy. If this really was about us rescuing Azarov, then don’t you think he would have put the bounty on all of us? It has to be related to what you delivered for him. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“You’ve got a point there,” Gaster said. “But I don’t even know what I delivered.”

“Markovic can’t know that for sure, though,” Cyrus said. “Whatever the case, we’ll make sure to keep you safe until we can figure out what to do about this.”

“I appreciate it,” Gasster said.

“Don’t mention it,” Cyrus replied, giving Gaster a slap on the back. “Now go get yourself patched up. You look like hell.”

* * *

Gaster had a lot on his mind as he and Taraka made their way to the medbay. The former smuggler was already paranoid enough after getting betrayed by Markovic, but finding out he now had a huge bounty on his head was just going to make it worse. Every bounty hunter in the criminal underworld of the Galaxy was sure to be after him now. Cyrus did have a point, though. This all had to be related to whatever he had been hired to transport. Part of him wanted to investigate Markovic and find out what he was up to, but right now he just wanted to focus on surviving.

As he was bandaging up the wounds he had sustained earlier, Gaster watched Taraka place his Pokeballs in the healing machine. He was really starting to like his new friends, and he felt bad putting them in danger like this, but he knew that they were his best chance of survival. They had his back, so he was damn well going to have their backs too.

Suddenly, Gaster’s thoughts were interrupted when Axel burst into the room. The mercenary had this wild look in his eyes as he approached his two crewmates.”I just had this crazy dream, guys!” he declared, voice full of excitement. “Guys, there’s this place we can go and there’s gonna be this awesome Pokemon! It looks kinda like some vanilla ice cream, but it’s also a fire type and it’s name is Spice Cream and we need to go there!”

Gaster looked back at Axel, baffled and bewildered. “I, uh … Are you okay?” he asked his crewmate.

“I’m better than okay!” Axel exclaimed. “I have seen this amazing fire planet and now we must go there!”

“You sure about that?” Gaster asked incredulously. “You sure you didn’t get any brain damage when you passed out in the water on Araimia?”

“Maybe the med bot is malfunctioning,” Taraka playfully suggested. “Perhaps Erik should take a look at it.”

“I’m perfectly fine, guys,” Axel said. “I just know where we need to go now.”

“And where is that, exactly?” Gaster asked.

“I don’t know.”

Gaster let out a long sigh and buried his face in his palm.

“It’s okay, though, guys,” Axel said. “I know we’ll find out where this planet is. I just have a feeling.”

Gaster shook his head in bewilderment. “If you say so.”

* * *

Axel was in quite a good mood as he returned from the marketplace near the spaceport on Nocturne where the  _Maverick_  was docked with Gaster and Taraka. He had just picked up a few TMs and was eager to teach his Pokemon some new, more powerful moves, and unlike Gaster, who was still bemoaning the fact that a bounty had been placed on his head, Axel wasn’t feeling bothered by the possibility of some mercenaries coming to try kill them.

“I don’t know what you’re so worried about,” Axel was telling his crewmate as they made their way back to the  _Maverick_. “If anyone tries messing with us, I’ll just burn ‘em.”

“Easy for you to say,” Gaster replied. “You’re not the one with the bounty on his head.”

“Oh, relax,” Axel said. “Everything’s going to be fi—”

The mercenary’s words were suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion in the direction of the spaceport.

“What the hell was that?” Axel asked, looking to his crewmates.

“Nothing good,” Gaster said. “What’s that you were saying?”

“That came from the spaceport,” Taraka said. “We had best make sure the others are alright.”

“Right,” Gaster said, nodding. “Let’s go.”

Axel followed close behind as his two crewmates began running toward the spaceport, where smoke was already beginning to rise. As they drew near, Axel could see people running from the spaceport in panic. Entering the spaceport, the trio was greeted by the sight of an exploded ship. Much to Axel’s relief, it wasn’t the  _Maverick_ , not that he didn’t feel bad for whoever the ship belonged to. At the moment, however, Axel was more focused on figuring out what was going on.

Hurrying along to the  _Maverick_ , which was parked directly next to the wreckage of the destroyed ship, Axel spotted a few new scorch marks on the side of the ship, but beyond that, it seemed unharmed.

“What the hell happened?” Axel asked, approaching Cyrus and and Ace, who were standing nearby, assessing the damage.

“I don’t know,” the captain replied. “This ship just exploded out of nowhere. This isn’t the kind of planet where that just happens.”

“Do you know whose ship this is?” Axel asked.

“No idea,” Cyrus said, shrugging. “But I feel bad for them, whoever they are.”

“My ship!” Axel suddenly heard a woman’s voice shout.

The mercenary quickly turned around to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen running over to the smouldering wreckage. She looked about his own age and she had long, flowing, fiery red hair and piercing amber-colored eyes. Axel couldn’t help but approach and offer assistance.

“Well  _hello_  there, young lady. How can I help  _you?_ ” he asked her.

“You could un-explode her ship,” Gaster said before the woman had a chance to respond. The former smuggler’s tone was quite sarcastic. “I’m sure that would be nice,” he continued, walking up to the pair.

“We’d be  _more_  than happy to help,” Axel said to the woman, ignoring his crewmate’s comment. “Do you need a ride somewhere?”

“That’s very kind of you to offer,” the woman replied. “But it will certainly take time to get this all sorted out.”

“Waiting won’t be a problem for us,” Axel said.

Before he could say anything else, Axel suddenly took notice of two shady-looking men standing around nearby. “Oh man, I think we got the wrong ship,” he heard one of them say, his voice faint at this distance.

“The boss is gonna kill us,” the other said.

“Oh, whose ship were you targeting, then?!” Axel then heard Gaster shout at the pair. It seemed he had heard them speaking as well. Axel looked over to see his crewmate aiming his rifle at the pair.

“Oh shit!” one of the two shady characters shouted before they both took off running, prompting Gaster to open fire.

Thinking quickly, Axel sent out his Charizard and hopped onto her back. “After them, Ritsu!” he ordered her as his Pokemon lifted off. “Cut them off!”

This proved to be unnecessary, however, as Taraka threw out a Pokeball, releasing a massive Wailord with rocky hide right above the fleeing men. Without any water beneath it, the large Pokemon dropped, pinning both men beneath it.  _That works_ , Axel thought as he directed Ritsu to land.

“Nice work there, Taraka,” Axel said, stepping back onto the ground near the monk’s Wailord. “Now let’s find out who these bastards are.”

Giving the two men trapped beneath Taraka’s Wailord a glance, Axel spotted a familiar insignia on their clothes. “ _Maelstrom_ ,” the mercenary spat, scowling as he looked down at the two men.

“They work for that Dane Lory guy?” Gaster asked. “Didn’t he get locked up on Araimia?”

“The boss got busted out,” one of the men under the Wailord said, looking up at Gaster. “And wants his payback. Claiming the bounty on you is just icing on the cake.”

“Well, it looks like you went and messed that up,” Gaster replied.

“Yeah,” Axel agreed, hefting up his flamethrower to fire. “And now we’re gonna end you and send Maelstrom and your boss a message.”

“Hold on,” Taraka said, pushing Axel’s flamethrower back down. “We can’t just go killing people in public. Let’s turn them in to the authorities.”

“Just so they can escape?” Axel asked the monk. “Look where that got us last time.”

“It’s just a risk we have to take,” Taraka said.

“Your friend here has a point, you know,” the redheaded woman said. Axel was caught a bit off guard as he hadn’t seen her approach. “And besides, you can’t get information out of them if you kill them. I would very much like to know where their base is so I can make them pay for blowing my ship up.”

“Good point,” Axel said. “I didn’t think of that.” The mercenary then turned to the two men, still pinned beneath Taraka’s Wailord. He nodded at the monk, and he recalled his Pokemon. Grabbing one of the men by the collar of his shirt, Axel lifted him off the ground “Tell us where your base is,” the mercenary told him.

“We’re not telling you shit,” the man spat back

“Where’s your base?!” Taraka suddenly shouted, thumping his staff on the ground with surprising force, causing the man still on the ground to hop back.

“Yeah, we’ll talk! We’ll talk!” the same man cried. “Please don’t drop your Wailord on us again!”

“Where’s your base then?” Gaster asked, putting his boot on the man’s chest and pushing him down.

“Don’t you be a snitch,” the man Axel was still holding told his comrade.

“Fuck this shit, man,” the other replied. “We don’t get paid enough for this. I didn’t sign up to get crushed by a giant rock Wailord.”

“I don’t think I know anyone who would sign up for that, but okay,” Taraka said.

“Exactly,” the man Gaster was pinning down said. “So if you promise not to crush me again, I’ll tell you what you wanna know.”

“Alright pal,” Gaster said. “Where’s Maelstrom’s base?”

“The Garm system,” the man said. “In an old mining station. You can’t miss it.”

“Nice,” Axel said. “I don’t think that’s too far from here. We can raid Lory’s base while he’s not there.”

“Well if you wanna get him, you should wait til he’s there,” the mercenary he was still clutching by the collar said.

“Oh, look who decided to be helpful,” Axel replied. “And you make a great point. I guess I won’t kill you then.” With that, he tossed the man onto the ground next to his comrade.

By this point, the local authorities had shown up, having responded to the explosion in the spaceport. Having got what they wanted out of the two Maelstrom mercenaries, the  _Maverick_  crew turned them over.  _Time to get back to the business that really matters_ , Axel thought, looking to the redheaded woman.

“Your ship’s not looking to good,” Axel said to her as they all walked back over to the wreckage.

“Well, I can see that,” the woman replied rather dryly.

“Perhaps we help give you a ride somewhere, young lady,” Axel said.

“That would be appreciated.”

“Well, I think that can be arranged, young lady. And what is your name so I stop calling you ‘young lady?’ My name is Axel and these two are Gaster and Taraka.”

“Nice to meet you, Axel,” the woman replied, offering her hand to shake. “My name is Persephone.”

“Persephone?” Axel asked as he shook her hand. “Nice name. So, Miss Persephone, this might sound like an odd question, but do you happen to know of a fire planet where we might be able to find a special fire pokemon?”

“You’re right,” Persephone said. “That  _is_  an odd question to ask.”

“Well, you see,” Axel replied. “I feel like this meeting is fate. I had a dream while about such a planet, and I feel like this is fate telling me that you’re the one I’m supposed to meet to take me to this planet.”

“Don’t mind him,” Gaster chimed in. “We need to reprogram the med bot.”

This seemed to amuse Persephone, as she let out a laugh. “It turns out that I happen to be on my way to a fire planet,” she said. “But, unfortunately, my ship has been destroyed.”

“Well it just so happens that we have a ship,” Axel said.

“I noticed,” Persephone replied, glancing at the  _Maverick_. “You did offer me a ride, after all.”

“Yes, yes I did,” Axel said. “We’d be more than happy to bring you to this fire planet.”

“I will gladly take you up on your offer.”

“Hey guys, I just invited her along on the trip,” Axel said, glancing over to his two crewmates. “I hope you’re okay with that.”

“Whatever,” Taraka said. “We’ve got like fifty people on the ship as it is. It’s fine.”

“We’re not the ones you need to be asking,” Gaster added. “Better clear it with the captain first.”

“Oh, don’t worry about the captain,” Axel said. “I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.”

* * *

Axel was feeling excited as the  _Maverick_  prepared for takeoff. Soon he would be on his way to the fire planet he had seen in his dream, and soon he would find that Pokemon he had seen. He could feel it. To top it all off, he would be accompanied by a beautiful woman. Today was a good day.

The mercenary and his crewmates hadn’t forgotten about Dane Lory and Maelstrom, though. Jun Azarov and the band of mercenaries he ran with would be staking out the mining station in the Garm system Lory’s mercs operated out of for them while they were checking out the fire planet, and would let them know when he returned. It was a little thank you gift for saving Azarov’s life.

“I have to say, you are certainly one of the more interesting group of individuals I’ve come across in my travels,” Persephone said as Axel, Gaster, and Taraka were wrapping up the brief tour the ship they were giving her.

“And you are quite interesting yourself, Persephone,” Axel said, attempting to flirt with her.

“Be careful, he’s our troublemaker,” Taraka jokingly warned Persephone before heading off to his room.

“I’ve never been a troublemaker a day in my life!” Axel proclaimed.

“Yeah, keep on telling yourself that,” Gastser said. He playfully slapped Axel on the back before he too walked off, leaving the mercenary alone with Persephone in the living quarters.

“So tell me about this fire planet, Persephone,” Axel said. “What business do you have there?”

“It’s called Pyraxia,” she replied. “It’s an inhospitable world of volcanoes and vile swamplands said to be home to powerful and rare fire type Pokemon. That’s what I’m looking for.”

“ _Oooh_ , me too,” Axel said, his eyes lighting up. “What a coincidence. I love finding rare Pokemon. Especially fire types.”

“Ah, a man after my own heart, I see,” Persephone said. “There are few who truly understand the raw power and majesty of fire Pokemon.”

Axel felt his heart beat just a little bit faster with every word Persephone spoke. The more he learned about her, the more he liked her. Never before had he encountered someone who appreciated fire types the way he did, nor had he encountered such a beautiful woman.

“You know, Persephone, if you ever get sick of this common room you can come to my room at any point in time,” Axel said.

Persephone’s red-painted lips formed into a subtle smile, and Axel thought he saw her wink at him. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun session, and a fun little chapter to write. This chapter covers the first half of session 26. I was initially planning on including the whole session in this chapter, but it started getting a bit long, and I realized it made more sense to put the rest of the events of this session in the same chapter with those of the next session for reasons that will become apparent in the next chapter. Anyway, this chapter introduced a plot hook the GM of the original campaign and I cooked up, which I had been sitting on for a while, but it specifically concerned Axel, so I had to wait for his player to be present for a session first, and he’d missed the past few. But of course, I still didn’t get to have a full party as Kasey's player missed this one. But I knew I had to throw the hook out while Axel's player was here. As a little bit of enticing bait to make sure he’d show, the OG Spacemon GM teased him a bit during the week, mentioning that we may or may not be going to a special fire planet with cool fire types this session. For those not in the know, in a previous (and somewhat short-lived) PTU campaign that he GMed that wasn’t Spacemon and in which Axel's player, Taraka's player, and I were all players, Axel's player ended up with a fire shifted Vanillish that he named Spice Cream. It was pretty awesome, and every time we visited a volcanic planet in Frontier he hoped to find one again. Naturally, the OG GM’s teasing made him think that’s what he find. So then in game he started raving about the fire planet at the start before I even introduced the plot hook. I was amused and decided to roll with it, so I bullshat it into the plot, saying it was a dream. Axel's player took that and ran with it, coming up with this dream about Spice Cream. Then the other two players in attendance rolled with that and had some funny reactions, and a great bit of RP happened. I was proud of them, even if it was silly and dumb.
> 
> And on to the plot hook. Persephone was actually a character I ran in a non-Spacemon PTU campaign that Shane's player from the original campaign GMed in which the OG GM and I were both players and I decided to give her a cameo in Frontier much like I did with the campaign I mentioned above and my character Blackwing. However, this cameo is a bit larger. She was meant to be a quest giver to introduce a plot hook, the fire planet, but knowing Axel has been a womanizer in this campaign there was a chance he’d try to flirt with her too, and he bit that bait harder than I expect. It was hilarious actually. This was also a chance to throw Dane Lory back into the mix and to reveal the bounty on Gaster’s head. It came together all quite nicely, I think.
> 
> The bit with the Wailord was fun, especially since Axel's player hadn’t been present when it was captured and didn’t know about it. He was confused and surprised for a moment, but that couldn’t make it into the writing since his character had been present. Then, when they tried to interrogate the mercs, Axel's player rolled awful on command, while Taraka's player rolled very well. He rolled so well, and then was like “Where’s the Riddler?!” It was a good time.
> 
> One final thing to mention, the opening scene was one I added just to tie off the events with Jun and Anya for now. In the game I just briefly mentioned that he’d been dropped off, but I wanted to do a brief scene for it, and give some more backstory. I’m having fun revealing character history without explicitly saying anything. Anyway, enough rambling from me. Next chapter we visit Pyraxia, so look forward to that.


	34. Perils of Pyraxia!

Axel was full of excitement as he made his way to the front of the ship. He had just felt the  _Maverick_  drop out of warp space, which could only mean one thing: the ship had arrived at Pyraxia. Entering the cockpit, Axel spotted the captain sitting with Anya, who was busy flying the ship, and Persephone, who was serving as the navigator.

“Hey guys,” Axel said, announcing his presence. “So, uh, are we almost there?”

“What do you think?” Cyrus asked the mercenary, motioning at the planet they were approaching out the front viewport.

“I take it that’s a yes,” Axel said, gazing out at the planet and the violently swirling clouds in its atmosphere.

Moments later, the ship was descending into that very atmosphere. “Watch out for those clouds,” Persephone warned Anya as she guided the ship in. “They’re filled with flammable gasses prone to detonation.”

As if on cue, a large cloud in the distance burst into flames, causing several smaller neighboring clouds to detonate as well. “Exploding clouds?” Axel asked as he watched through the viewport. “Holy shit.”

“Well what do you expect from a planet like this?” Persephone asked, turning to look at him, a mysterious smirk on her face.

“That is true,” Axel replied with a nod. “So, what else do you know about this planet?”

“Well, as I mentioned before, it’s mostly covered in volcanic swamplands, but it also has several large mountainous regions, which are, unsurprisingly, made up of many active volcanoes,” Persephone explained. “There’s also a subterranean network of lava caves, or so I’ve been told.”

“Sounds like my kind of place,” Axel said.

As the  _Maverick_  broke through the cloud cover, Axel spotted the snow-capped peaks of a mountain range and he was reminded of his dream. If he was going to find a Spice Cream anywhere on Pyraxia, he was sure it would be there. “We should land by those mountains,” he announced to the cockpit. “That’s where we’ll find the Pokemon I’m looking for.”

“How do you know?” Cyrus asked. “You’ve never been to this planet before.”

“Oh, trust me, Captain, I know,” Axel said.

“Landing near the mountains is a good idea,” Persephone chimed in. “You don’t want your ship sinking into a swamp. There, that rocky outcropping looks good.”

“That it does,” Anya agreed. “Preparing to land.”

“Alright,” Axel said as the ship touched down. “Let’s go Pokemon hunting.”

* * *

“What’d you find, girl?” Axel asked as his Charizard touched down. Ritsu let out a low growl and looked up toward the summit of the mountain they were scaling. “She found something up there,” Axel said, looking over at Gaster, Persephone, and Taraka. The four of them had been searching around the area for wild Pokemon for the past hour or so, and Axel had instructed Ritsu to scout ahead for them.

“I have to say, Axel,” Persephone said as she walked up beside him. “Your Charizard here is quite a healthy specimen.”

“I take very good care of her,” Axel said proudly. “I take very good care of all the ladies in my life.”

“Is that so?” Persephone asked, letting out a laugh. “Let’s see how well you’re taking care of her, shall we?” she continued, reaching a hand out to Ritsu. “May I?” she asked, turning back to look at Axel.

“That should be perfectly okay,” Axel answered, nodding. “Ritsu’s a nice …  _nonviolent_  Charizard … When she’s not trying to fight things.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Taraka butted in, laughing at the comment.

Axel watched as Persephone placed her hand on the back of Ritsu’s neck, petting her in just the right spot. The mercenary was quite surprised to see that his Charizard seemed quite calmed by her touch. “I’m impressed,” Axel said. “Ritsu doesn’t usually take to strangers. You seem to know quite a lot about fire types.”

“I’d like to think so,” Persephone replied. “I feel a very strong affinity for them.”

“You know, Persephone, if you ever want a ride on my Charizard, just let me know,” Axel said.

“Speaking of riding Pokemon, we’ll get up to the top a lot faster if we ride our Pokemon up there,” Taraka interrupted again.

“Good idea, Taraka,” Axel agreed.

“I’m afraid I don’t have any Pokemon that can support the weight of a rider,” Persephone said.

“Don’t worry about that,” Axel said, reaching for his belt. “You can borrow my Arcanine.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Persephone said, reaching out to accept the mercenary’s Pokeball. “I’ll be sure to take good care of it.”

Axel nodded. “I’m sure you will.”

* * *

Snow crunched underfoot as Axel dismounted from Ritsu’s back at the mountain summit. “Thanks for the ride, girl,” the mercenary said, patting his Charizard on the back.

Taking a look around, Axel saw the others coming up behind him on their own Pokemon mounts. Persephone was out in front on Nodoka’s back, as the Arcanine was swift and agile. Taraka and Gaster soon followed, mounted on Zebstrika and Tyranitar, respectively.

Moving up alongside Axel and Ritsu, Nodoka kneeled down, allowing Persephone to dismount. “That’s a good boy,” Persephone said, stroking the Arcanine’s flowing white fur. “Your Arcanine is well trained,” she added, looking over at Axel as she adjusted her long red coat.

“Like I said, I take good care of my Pokemon,” Axel said.

“I can certainly tell,” Persephone said, nodding. “Now, how about this view?” she asked, taking a step toward the cliff edge that looked out over the volcanic crater at the mountain’s summit.

Joining her, Axel gazed down at the lava lake far below, then out into the distance at the steaming volcanic vents along the slopes of the mountainside. It was quite a breathtaking view. “It’s very pretty up here,” he said. “I could stay here forever.”

“Speak for yourself,” Gaster grumbled as he walked up behind the pair. “You’d think someone so obsessed with fire would hate this cold.”

“You just need to get yourself a nice insulated suit of armor,” Axel replied.

“I’d rather have my mobility, thanks,” Gaster said.

“Well, then quit whining.”

“Not to interrupt, but I think I’ve spotted some Pokemon,” Taraka suddenly called out. Axel looked over to the monk to see him pointing at what were clearly some Pokemon a short distance around the crater edge.

“Let’s go take a look!” Axel said with excitement. The mercenary took off at a sprint, quickly closing the distance.

As Axel approached the Pokemon, he was better able to make them out. A Numel sat resting beside a rock, a Litleo was prowling around through the snow, and there, sitting atop another rock, Axel caught sight of a Vanillish with a purplish-red hue, just as he had seen in his dream. “There it is! Spice Cream! Ritsu, do your thing!” Down from the sky, Axel’s Charizard swooped in, spraying the unsuspecting Vanillish with fire. When the flames cleared, Axel could see that the Pokemon was quite hurt.

As he reached for an empty Pokeball to throw at his prize, Axel saw Persephone walk up beside him and send out a Delphox. “Please don’t attack that thing,” Axel warned her. “It took quite the hit already.”

“Don’t worry,” Persephone replied. She flashed the mercenary a smirk before turning back to her Delphox. “Madea, use Psychic on that Numel!” she commanded her Pokemon. The Delphox unleashed a blast of psychic energy upon the Numel, doing a real number on it.

As the Numel ran at Persephone’s Pokemon to strike back, Axel turned back to the Vanillish. Gripping the Pokeball in his hand tightly, Axel pulled his arm back, then threw the ball at his Target. The ball made contact, pulled the Vanillish inside, then fell to the ground. It shook once … twice … a third time … then it burst open, freeing the Pokemon inside!

“ _Fuck!_ ” Axel cursed.

“Let’s help him out, Blitz. Use Thunder Wave!” he then heard Taraka shout. The monk’s Zebstrika soon ran into view, then shot out a wave of electricity at the Vanillish, stunning it.

Dazed and disoriented, the Vanillish unleashed a blast of ice-cold wind all around, clipping Ritsu as she came in for another pass. “Ritsu, hit it with Dragon Rage!” Axel called out to his Charizard. “See if you can’t weaken it a little more!” He watched as his Pokemon unleashed her attack, but she was unfortunately unable to land a hit.

“Don’t worry, I think it’s weak enough now,” Taraka said to Axel, walking up beside him. “Take this,” he continued, holding out a great ball.

“Thanks, man,” Axel said, taking the ball from his crewmate.

“Don’t mess this up,” Taraka replied, giving the mercenary an encouraging slap on the back.

Axel nodded, then walked up to the Vanillish. He pressed the ball Taraka gave him against the Pokemon, and it was once more pulled inside. The ball shook once in the mercenary’s hand, then a second … a third … and then fell still. “Yes!” Axel called out in excitement. “Spice Cream is mine!”

“Nice work,” Taraka said. “Now let’s give the others a hand.”

“Right,” Axel said before turning to see how Persephone was handling the Numel. She had apparently switch out to a Chandelure, which was fighting alongside Gaster’s Tyranitar against the Numel and the Litleo.

“Willow, use Confuse Ray!” Persephone commanded her Chandelure as Axel and Taraka moved in to assist. She seemed to have the Numel under control, so Axel decided to go for the Litleo.

“Ritsu, use Dragon Rage on that Litleo!” he ordered his Charizard. Swooping in, Ritsu touched down and spewed out a small jet of flame at the Litleo. In response, the fiery feline charged at the Charizard, but she lifted off the ground with a flap of her wings, and it simply passed beneath her.

“Blitz, Thunder Wave,” Taraka then commanded his Zebstrika, joining Axel in dealing with the Litleo.

A zap of electricity from Blitz left the Litleo dazed. It tried to rush the Zebstrika to attack, but it tripped and stumbled forward, burying its head in the snow. Axel couldn’t help but chuckle at this display. Taraka, meanwhile, walked up and pressed a Pokeball against it before it could get up, successfully capturing it.

Now all that was left was the Numel. Axel looked over to see Gaster attempting to capture it. Unfortunately for the former smuggler, the Pokemon broke free. Before he got a chance to throw another Pokeball, Persephone threw one of her own and captured it for herself.

“Nice catch,” Gaster complimented Persephone. He clearly wasn’t too broken up about not capturing the Numel himself. “It’s probably a better Pokemon for you anyway.”

“Of that I have no doubt,” she replied.

“Hey baby, how’s it going?” Axel asked, walking up beside her as she pocketed her new Pokemon.

“Wonderful,” Persephone answered, winking at the mercenary. “Just adding another fine fire type to my team. Did you manage to capture your special Pokemon?”

“You know it,” Axel replied, grinning as he showed her the ball containing Spice Cream.

“Nice work,” Persephone said, her sly smirk returning. “Now let’s head back down so we can find  _my_  special Pokemon.”

* * *

Axel was in an exceptionally good mood as he and his companions boarded the  _Maverick_. Having found and captured the Pokemon he had seen in his dream, the mercenary was experiencing a bit of a high. His new Vanillish was going to bring his team to the next level. He could feel it.

“You’re back,” Cyrus observed as they all passed him by in the corridor on the way to the med bay to heal up their Pokemon. “Find that dream ice cream cone of yours?”

“You bet your ass I did, Captain,” Axel told him.

“Huh. I’m impressed. I didn’t actually think you’d find anything up there.”

“You just don’t have enough faith in me, Captain,” Axel replied, grinning.

“It’s your dreams that I don’t have faith in,” Cyrus teased.

“Whatever you say, boss.”

“So,, you ready to get off this rock?”

“Not yet,” Axel said. “After we heal our Pokemon up, we’re gonna head down into the swamp. Persephone here still needs to find the Pokemon she came here for.”

“Some of us are heading into the swamp, anyway,” Taraka chimed in. “I need a rest.”

“Okay, the rest of us are going to head into the swamp, then,” Axel said. “Care to join us, Captain?”

“I’ll pass,” Cyrus replied. “I’ve had my share of swamps for a long time. I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

“You sure, boss?” Axel asked. “What are the odds of you falling into a murky swamp pit a second time?”

“I’m good.”

“I’ll join you guys,” Kasey said, poking her head out of the workshop. “I finally finished getting all my equipment set up.”

“Great!” Persephone said. “If the Pokemon of this world are as powerful as I’ve been told, we could use an extra helping hand.”

“I’m up for it,” Kasey said. “I don’t have any Pokeballs, though.”

“Here, take these,” Cyrus said, pulling a few Pokeballs out of his pocket. “I can spare a few.”

“Are you sure?” Kasey asked.

“It’s not a problem,” the captain told her as he handed her the balls. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright then, let’s get going!” Axel said enthusiastically.

“We need to heal our Pokemon first,” Gaster said.

“Oh, right.”

* * *

Steam and smoke clouded the air as Axel, Gaster, Kasey, and Persephone made their way through the swamplands of Pyraxia. These fumes, a result of surface lava flows meeting the swamp water, stung the eyes of the group and the smell of burning plant matter was truly awful. Persephone certainly hadn’t been kidding when she had described these swamps as vile. Axel didn’t mind, though. He was determined to press on and help Persephone find what she was looking for.

As they pressed further on, Axel began to hear feral grunts and loud splashes in the waters up ahead. The mercenary paused and turned to look at his companions. “Do you here that?” he asked.

“Sounds like a battle,” Gaster said.

“A struggle between wild Pokemon, I’d wager,” Persephone said.

“Let’s find out,” Axel said before moving ahead.

Drawing nearer to the sound of the commotion, Axel began to make out two figures duking it out through the clouded air. Inching a bit closer, it became clear that he was looking at a territorial dispute between two Feraligatrs. One was quite ordinary looking, while the other’s scales were bright red with bands of dark gray and its back spikes were a vivid yellow shade. Flames emanated from its mouth as it sank its sharp teeth into the other.

“I’ve never seen a Feraligatr like that before,” Gaster commented, walking up beside Axel.

“You’d be surprised what kind of unique variants you can find on a planet like this,” Persephone said. “Hostile environments like this force them to adapt over time.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Axel asked. “Let’s catch ‘em!” With that, the mercenary threw out two Pokeballs, releasing his Lucio and his newly captured Vanillish. “Alright, Spice Cream, show me what you’ve got! Hit ‘em with Icy Wind! Krieg, you get the blue one with Spark!”

As Axel’s Pokemon did their work, both striking their targets, the others sent out their Pokemon. Kasey sent out a Fraxure and Gaster sent out his Gloom, but Persephone simply hung back and watched.

“Huntress, hit that one with False Swipe!” Kasey commanded her Fraxure, directing her after the regular Feraligatr. The dragon Pokemon acted swiftly, and moved in to strike with a carefully placed swipe of her claws.

Clearly angered by the sudden onslaught, the blue-colored Feraligatr let out a roar, then swept its mighty tail across its attackers. The red Feraligatr maneuvered out of the way, but Axel and Kasey’s Pokemon took the full force of the hit. Having avoided the attack, the red Feraligatr struck back by spitting out a jet of flame at the other one, which dove down into the swamp to avoid.

“Ficus, use Stun Spore!” Gaster commanded his Gloom as the Feraligatr reemerged from the water. Before it could strike again, the Feraligatr was coated in a powder that left it stunned and immobilized.

“Quick, hit it with False Swipe again!” Kasey ordered, seizing upon the opportunity Gaster had provided. As her Fraxure landed another careful precision strike, Kasey readied a Pokeball. As soon as she had a clear shot, she threw it fast and true. The Feraligatr was pulled inside the ball, which fell still in the water below.

With its enemy having suddenly vanished, the remaining Feraligatr looked around in confusion. Before it could zero in on a new target, Axel ordered his Pokemon to attack. “Krieg, Bite! Spice Cream, Ember!” Finding itself under assault, the Feraligatr lashed out at the nearest Pokemon, narrowly missing Krieg with its fiery jaws.

“Ficus, use Sleep Powder and knock it out!” Gaster commanded his Gloom. Unlike the other Feraligatr, this one avoided the burst of powder that was sent its way, but it dropped its guard in the process.

“Huntress, False Swipe!” Kasey commanded, quickly seizing upon the opening. Her Fraxure found her mark, landing a decisive hit, then nimbly avoided the fiery counterattack that came in response.

“Now, Stun Spore!” Gaster shouted. This time, the Feraligatr didn’t see the attack coming and was left stunned just like the other had been. Axel wasted no time and tossed a Pokeball. One tense second later, the Feraligatr was successfully trapped within the ball.

“How’d you like  _that_ , Persephone?” Axel asked as he walked over to claim his prize. As he fished the ball out of the water, the mercenary lost his footing in the slick mud and nearly tumbled headfirst into the swap. “Woah,” he gasped as he leaned back in attempt to regain his balance. Unfortunately, he ended up falling back onto his rear end on the muddy ground instead.

“I’m quite impressed, Axel,” Persephone said, bursting out into laughter.

Axel maintained his calm exterior, but inside he was jumping for joy that he seemed to be endearing himself to Persephone despite having just made a complete fool of himself. He’d never had such luck with a woman before.

“Maybe be a little more careful, though,” Persephone said as she offered a hand to help him up.

“Good idea,” Axel said as he got to his feet. “So where to next?”

“How about that cave over there?” Gaster said.  
  


“What cave?” Kasey asked, looking around.

“The cave right there,” Gaster said. Axel looked to where the former smuggler was pointing and, sure enough, there was a small cave entrance just a short distance from the edge of the water.

“Oh,  _that_  cave,” Kasey said. “I totally saw that cave. Yup. Definitely didn’t miss it.”

“Looks promising,” Persephone said, taking a step toward the cave. “Let’s check it out.”

* * *

Axel could feel the temperature rising as he and his companions descended further and further through the winding network of underground tunnels they found themselves in. After what seemed like hours, Axel began to see a faint glow up ahead. Before long, the narrow tunnel had given way to a large open chamber. The mercenary soon found himself standing upon a narrow bridge formed naturally from the rock of the cave that led between two large lava pools.

“ _Magnificent_ ,” Persephone said in awe as she stepped ahead of Axel to get a better view. “I’m sure there are many fire Pokemon to be found here.”

“Well then, let’s lure ‘em out!” Axel shouted before throwing out the Pokeball containing his Charizard.

“Let’s get off this bridge first, maybe,” Gaster said, pointing to the large space of open ground on the other side.

“Ritsu, use Sunny Day!” Axel commanded his Pokemon. The mercenary’s Charizard proceeded to spit out a large artificial sun of flames high above, illuminating all the dark corners of the cavern.

Almost immediately, a loud roar echoed throughout the chamber. Axel gripped his flamethrower with anticipation as he looked around to see what had made the noise.

“Or not,” Gaster said, reaching for a Pokeball of his own just as another roar sounded from a different direction. He quickly released his Tyranitar, which prompted Kasey and Persephone to send out Pokemon of their own: Tyrunt and Blaziken.

As the group began to make their way off the bridge toward safer ground, a large form rose up from the lava. Turning his head to see the shape in his peripheral vision, Axel was greeted by the sight of a Gyarados with radiant red scales. Before the awe-inspiring aura of this beast truly set in, another form arose from the lava pool on the opposite side of the bridge. This one was a Dragalge of a deep crimson hue.

Axel stopped in his tracks to gaze upon the beauty of these two creatures while the others continued to make for end of the bridge. He soon counted himself lucky, as they all nearly tripped over a Magcargo that had wandered into their path. As if that wasn’t enough, a third large Pokemon appeared, swooping down from above and spewing fire from its mouth. Axel quickly determined that this newcomer was a Flygon, but it wasn’t just any Flygon; this majestic Pokemon’s body was a bright yellowish-green, highlighted by beautiful bands of orange and bright blue.

Letting out a defiant roar, Ritsu swooped in to engage the Flygon. However, the Charizard was shot out of the air by a beam of draconic energy from the mouth of the Gyarados. “Come back, Ritsu!” Axel called out, recalling his Charizard to her ball. She wouldn’t be much use against these Pokemon, so there was no point in risking her safety. He then grabbed the ball containing his Alakazam and sent him out. “You’re up, Ryner!

Meanwhile, Gaster and Kasey opened fire on the Flygon circling above them, forcing it to fly lower. “Basan, use Flame Burst!” Persephone commanded her Blaziken, seizing upon the opportunity. Unfortunately, the Flygon was able to adeptly maneuver through the air and avoid the jet of flame the Blaziken sent its way. It then fired back a response, unleashing a violent inferno of flames, but Persephone’s Pokemon was dodgey too, and jumped out of the way of the attack.

As for Kasey, she had her Pokemon go after the Magcargo. “Baroness, Bite that thing!” she commanded her Tyrunt. As the Tyrunt moved in to gnaw on her target, the Magcargo hardened its shell in preparation for the incoming attack.

“Not a bad idea,” Axel said to himself. The Magcargo’s defensive reaction reminded the mercenary that he, as well as his companions would do well to have some protection of their own. Usually that duty fell upon Taraka, but he had opted not to join them. “Ryner, use Reflect!” Axel commanded his Alakazam.

“Smart move,” Gaster said as Axel’s Pokemon threw up a protective barrier around the group. “Now let’s focus on striking hard. Hrodulf, Thrash that Dragalge!” Heeding the command of his trainer, Gaster’s Tyranitar approached the edge of the Dragalge’s lava pool and proceeded to slam his weight against the lava dragon, which by now was right at the edge of its domain. The Dragalge responded by spewing out a massive a noxious sludge. The Tyranitar let out a ferocious roar of rage as the nasty toxins sank in through his rough and rocky hide.

Turning his attention back to the Gyarados, Axel saw that it had moved much closer while the group’s focus had been elsewhere. “Look out!” the mercenary called out, seeing the Pokemon was preparing to unleash other attack. He had just enough time to get out of the way as a twister tore its way across the rock bridge, but his warning came too late for Gaster and his Tyranitar. Gaster, fortunately was able to maintain his footing and avoided being swept into the lava. The former smuggler was quick to return fire, pelting the Gyarados with a volley of laser fire. He then was quick to move further away from the bridge and the two lava pools, and Axel followed close behind him.

“Basan, High Jump Kick!” Axel heard Persephone command as he and Gaster joined up with her and Kasey. He watched as her Blaziken leapt into the air and strike the Flygon dead on, dropping it to the ground. As Persephone’s Pokemon came in for a landing, the Flygon shot some flames up at him, but with a stunning feat of aerial acrobatics, the Blaziken rolled itself out of the way.

“Baroness, get in there and Bite it!” Kasey then commanded her own Pokemon. Her Tyrunt swiftly moved in and sank her fangs in while the Flygon attempted to get back up, keeping it from flying away.

“Careful now,” Persephone warned. “It’s looking quite hurt now and we don’t want to risk knocking it out.”

“Right,” Kasey said, nodding in agreement. “I know just what to do.” With that, she recalled her Tyrunt and sent her Fraxure out once more.

The two women seemed to have the Flygon under control, and the Magcargo was still hiding in its shell, so Axel turned his attention back to the more imminent threats, as did Gaster. “Hrodulf, hit that Dragalge with Payback!” the former smuggler commanded his Tyranitar. His enraged Pokemon struck back at the Dragalge, only to be repaid with a burst of flames to the face.

“Seems like we need to weaken it some more before we can catch it,” Axel said to his crewmate. “Ryner, blast it with Psybeam!” His Alakazam fired off a beam of psychic energy, which struck the Dragalge dead on, knocking it out. “Oops,” Axel said as the Pokemon sank back into the lava.

Gaster simply shrugged at the mercenary. “I didn’t really want it that much, to be honest,” he said, recalling his Tyranitar. “I’ll catch one of the others instead.”

“Well that Gyarados is mine,” Axel said.

“Alright, then I’ll go for the Flygon,” Gaster said, before looking over to see how Kasey and Persephone were handling things. “... Or not.” Axel glanced over just in time to see Persephone throw a Pokeball at the Flygon and capture it.

“There’s always the Magcargo,” Axel chuckled, pointing to the lava snail, which was currently spitting flames at Kasey’s Fraxure.

“I suppose,” Gaster said before releasing his Cinccino. “Let’s go get it, Lulabelle.”

“Now it’s just you and me,” Gaster said, turning back to the Gyarados. The lava serpent roared back, then unleashed a tide of flames at the mercenary’s Alakazam.

“Dodge it, Ryner!” Axel called out. “Then fire back with Psybeam!” With his telepathic abilities, the Alakazam was easily able to deduce a path through the flames and line up an attack angle.

As the psychic beam found its mark, Axel pulled out a Pokeball and threw it at the Gyarados. Unfortunately for Axel, the serpent slapped the ball away with its tail, sending it careening into the lava. It then lunged at the mercenary, snapping at him with its fiery fangs. Axel dove out of the way just in time, and then the Gyarados lunged at him again only to be driven back by a volley of gunfire.

Axel rolled onto his back and saw Kasey unloading her pistol at the Gyarados. “Huntress, False Swipe!” she commanded her Fraxure without breaking eye contact with the beast.

Kasey was soon joined by Gaster and Persephone and their Pokemon.  _I guess they dealt with that Magcargo_ , Axel thought as the two commanded their Pokemon to attack. The Gyarados was soon left dazed and immobilized by a Confuse Ray Thunder Wave combo at the hands of Persephone’s Chandelure and Gaster’s Cinccino.

“Let’s try this again,” Axel said as he got back on his feet. He pulled out another Pokeball and threw it as hard as he could. This time, the Gyarados was pulled inside, but it quickly broke free. “Damn it!”

Enraged and violently thrashing around, the Gyarados swept its tail across the ground where its attackers stood. Thankfully, by some miracle, it missed every single one of them.

“Huntress, False Swipe again!” Kasey quickly ordered her Fraxure. The dragon Pokemon went in for another non-lethal strike, and found her mark. “Now, go for the capture!” Kasey shouted.

“You got it!” Axel replied. He pulled out another Pokeball and let it rip. Once more, the Gyarados was pulled inside a Pokeball, which came to a landing on the rocky ground. The ball shook violently for several seconds before finally falling still. The serpent was captured.

“What a truly magnificent beast,” Persephone said as Axel walked over to claim his prize. “It’s a shame I couldn’t capture it myself, but I captured my own rare fire type today, so I can’t complain. Thank you all for helping me with that.”

“It was my pleasure, Persephone,” Axel said, a big grin on his face. “Anything for a woman like you.”

“ _Oh really now?_ ” Persephone asked, that sly smirk of hers on her face once more. “Perhaps a little reward is in order when we get back to your ship.” With a wink, she turned and began making her way to the cavern’s exit, her Chandelure floating along behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit of a difficult chapter to write. To start things off, we have the remainder of Session 26’s events, and then the events of Session 27. I ended up forgetting to turn off the recording after that session ended and shut off my computer for the night later on, causing the recording to be lost. As soon as I realized what had happened the next morning, I immediately wrote down everything I remembered for reference when it came time to write. At the time I had no idea it’d be over a year before it was time to do so, and with so much time having passed, had some trouble writing those parts, but I’m still very satisfied with how it turned out.
> 
> Pyraxia was a fun planet to conceptualize. I just started with volcanic as one of its biomes and then the OG Spacemon GM and I came up with some neat details like exploding clouds. Then, to make it really interesting, I used my planet generator to add another layer to it. It spit out swamp and mountain for biomes and dragon for the type, which actually proved to be perfect for what we had in mind. A snowy mountain provided an opportunity to give Axel's player a chance at finally catching the fire shifted Vanillite he’d been wanting, which turned out to be a Vanillish because of how good the roll was. A volcanic swamp provided some fantastic imagery, plus it provided an opportunity to use this red Feraligatr art that the OG GM found. To make that particular encounter interesting, I threw in a regular Feraligatr to play off the fire meets water vibe of a volcanic swamp. Combining that with having dragon Pokemon on this planet, it allowed some cool type shifts to appear. Dragalge was an obvious choice for a swampy planet, but throwing it into the lava pool was a fun twist. The Gyarados was a fun one too, because I knew Axel's player really wanted a Gyarados and that type shifting it would make it very enticing for him as a means of making sure Persephone caught her special rare fire type. It was a double type shifted fire/dragon Gyarados, an idea I got from a similar one that appeared in a campaign Shane's player from the original campaign GMed. I made it my own though. The Flygon was actually something I caught as Persephone in the campaign she was my character in that was fire shifted. When I rolled dragon for Pyraxia I knew it made perfect sense that it be the rare Pokemon she would capture. The plan was for her to capture the Gyarados and offer it for trade if someone else caught the Flygon, but that became unnecessary.
> 
> As Axel's player had to leave a little early at the end of Session 26, we ended that session early after the Vanillish battle and planned to cover the rest of Pyraxia the following session. As I now had a full session to devote to the planet, I expanded the scope of it. Session 27 was the first time I really experimented with planned wild Pokemon encounters outside of a dungeon in which I built all the Pokemon. It was fun to come up with concepts like the Feraligatr territory dispute and the cave of type shifts that made it different from what the players usually got when looking for wilds.
> 
> As this was split across two sessions, each half of this chapter has a different roster. Kasey's player was out for Session 26, but he made it for Session 27. However, Taraka's player ended up running super late for Session 27 and told us to start without him. He didn’t make it until we were just wrapping up the fight in the cave, so Taraka didn’t make an appearance.
> 
> There were also a few funny moments in these sessions too. Axel's player attempted to flirt with Persephone a lot, but his charm is so low that he rolled awful a lot of the time. Each time he managed to succeed, I added a bonus of 1 to future rolls that would accumulate over time. He still rolled awful though, making his character come off as a lovable idiot whose antics endeared him to the woman he was pursuing. It was amusing all around. Then, in the swamp, Kasey's player rolled so awful on perception that Kasey totally missed seeing the cave, providing all of us with some laughs. Then there was Axel literally aggroing the entire cave. Good times.


End file.
